Sacrifice
by samcarter2
Summary: This is a retelling of the episodes Darkness and Light using the original characters from my story Always Love You. Everett/OC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Sacrifice

Author's Notes: I would like to thank everyone involved with the Stargate franchise for the many hours of entertainment over the years and would like to thank my friends and family for their encouragement. This story is broken up into chapters, but since it's a retelling of the episodes Darkness and Light, some of the chapter breaks might be a little awkward. Please review and let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: All characters and situations originating with SGU are not mine and will never be mine. I would also like to give credit to the people on who write the transcripts on Gateworld.

Out in the vastness of space, a ship named Destiny continued on its journey through the universe. It had been vacant for thousands of years, but, just a few days ago, a group of people from the planet Earth, had come through its stargate. They had used many of its resources, and the ship knew it was coming close to the time it would need to recharge, and it started preparing itself.

The people had found the sleeping quarters for the ship, and many of them were asleep including the commander of the group, Colonel Everett Young. His arms were wrapped around his pregnant fiancée, Dr. Melissa Mitchell, who was one of the scientists of the group. It was close to the end of the sleep cycle when his door softly chimed. Everett woke up and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's Lieutenant Johansen, Sir, with Sergeant Greer. Can we speak with you for a moment?"

"Sure, just give me a minute." Everett sat up and put his pants on and then reached for the gun he had been using as a crutch for his injured leg. He heard Melissa stir and ask, "What's wrong, Ev?"

"It's for me, Babe. Go back to sleep." He watched as she rolled back over and got up to limp over to the door. When he answered it, he saw the two officers who had been a tremendous support to him over the last few days. "Hey, what's up?"

Greer and TJ looked at each other and TJ said, "We were over helping Airman Becker get the rations organized, and then it occurred to me that we needed to discuss Melissa's ration."

The colonel gazed at them both for a moment, not comprehending, and then it occurred to him. "You mean because of the baby?"

"Yes Sir," said TJ. "I hope you don't mind. Scott and I were talking, and we decided we needed to make sure you two had some support. And then Greer came over."

"I guessed, Sir," Greer interrupted, "but I don't think anyone else has."

Everett nodded and said, "Why don't you come in?" The two younger officers came in the room, and the door shut behind them. "So, what are we looking at?"

TJ said, "She probably needs triple what we're giving everyone else, but I can guarantee you there will be a riot."

"I agree with you, TJ," replied Everett, "but I want to make sure she has what she needs too. God, this is a mess." His voice trailed off. "Wait a minute; I might have a short term solution for us. She always keeps snack bars in an evac bag, and we had a delivery right before the attack." He walked over to the bed, sat down, and nudged Melissa, "Missy, wake up."

"I'm awake, sweetheart. What is it?" She turned over and saw TJ and Greer in the room. "Oh, hey guys."

They nodded at her in greeting, and she glanced over at Everett. "What is it, Ev?"

"You know those snack bars you like. Didn't those come in the mail bag right before the attack, and most importantly, did they get in your evac bag?"

Melissa grinned at him as she said, "Of course, I have all kinds of goodies in my duffle." She got out of the bed and walked to her duffle. As she was searching through it, Everett looked at her in profile and noticed a roundness to her body he hadn't seen before. He thought to himself, 'It's not going to be long, and it will be obvious that's she's pregnant. I've got to protect her, but what's the best way?'

She started giving him an inventory of what was in the bag. "There is a change of clothes for each of us, toiletries for each of us, a uniform change for each of us, some other small things, and most important, Kellogg's strawberry snack bars and Propel powder mix." She pulled out the last two items both of which were stored in large plastic bags, and the others saw what looked to be 20-30 of each item in the bags. Everett gave a big sigh of relief, "You just made my morning, Missy."

She walked over, gave him a kiss, and said, "I'm glad to hear that." Then she looked at the three of them. "Ok, wait a minute. Were the three of you discussing me?"

The two men looked at TJ and she said, "Yes, we were. This is important. You're at the point in your pregnancy where you're going to start needing more calories, and I was concerned about what the size of your ration needed to be, but since you have shown us your stash, I think we can set the ration size at just double the regular portion."

Melissa nodded at TJ in gratitude. "Thanks TJ. I appreciate you looking out for me."

Greer spoke up, "I'm going to tell the both of you. Someone will still probably notice, and with you being injured, Sir, I think Dr. Mitchell's first appearance in the Mess should include me, Scott, or TJ."

"Well, we're going to have to do this in more than one group anyway." said Everett. "How about the both of you and Melissa come in the second group?"

"That'll work," said Greer.

TJ added, "Camille's organizing the groups. I'll go tell her. Do you want to do the first group in about thirty minutes and then do the next group thirty minutes later?

The colonel thought for a moment, and said, "Yeah, that'll work."

"Alright," said TJ. "We'll see you in a little while, and we'll start spreading the word.

Everett nodded at her in thanks, and both she and Greer left. He noticed that Melissa had sat back down on the bed and was looking off into the distance. "Babe, you ok?"

She came out of her reverie and said, "Yeah, I'm ok, sweetheart. Just not sure how I feel about having to be looked after, that's all."

Gently turning her face towards him, Ev told her, "Listen, Missy, I love you, and I don't have a problem telling anyone on this ship that. You know that, right?"

"I do," she said.

"TJ, Greer, and Scott-they're just being practical, and I'm really glad they're on our side. Right now, it's not real feasible for me to get into a fight." He pointed to his injured leg.

"I know, Ev. You're right. I'm sorry. I'm glad we have them in our corner too." She leaned over and kissed him. "I guess we should start getting ready."

"Yep, but let me look at you for a second."

She stood there for a moment while he observed her carefully and then asked him, "What are you looking at?"

Ev replied, "Well, for someone who knows you well, you can tell…."

Missy chuckled, "that I'm pregnant. Yes, I know that."

"Well," he remarked, "I was also going to say that you're beautiful."

A slow smile came over her face. "Thank you, sweetheart."

Everett took her in his arms and very thoroughly kissed her. Then he said, "Now, we can get ready."

Melissa shook her head and laughed, "Everett Young, you do know you're incorrigible, don't you?"

He gave her an amused grin and said, "Yep."

The two of them went ahead and put their uniforms back on. Melissa was able to do up the buttons on the shirt and pants, but just barely. She said to him, "I'm kind of glad I decided to order a larger uniform."

Everett looked at her curiously and asked, "When did you do that?

Missy replied, "On the Hammond's next-to-last mail run before we were attacked, and when I got it back, I threw it into my duffle without thinking about it."

"Babe, you are something else," said Ev, "practical and beautiful."

"Thank you."

He finished getting dressed and told her, "I will see you in about 45 minutes. TJ never said anything about amounts you should be eating out of your stash. Why don't you go find her and ask?"

Melissa replied, "I will. See you in a little while." She headed out of the room to find the medic while Everett went to the room that had been designated as the ship's Mess. After briefly conferring with Camille Wray as to what he needed her to do, people from the first group started entering the Mess. They sat down at the various tables while Private Becker and his colleagues passed out bowls of a thin gruel. The various people that the colonel had given assignments to the previous day started giving updates. Dr. Brody began, "Don't know whether the ship has electrolysers to produce oxygen, but you can see there's not much left in there. We did some calculations based on our estimates of the water depth and tank dimensions…."

Colonel Young asked, "And the winner is?"

Brody replied, "Just over ninety thousand liters."

Eli's voice piped up from another table, "Ninety-one forty sixish."

"Go Math Boy!" chuckled Lieutenant Scott.

"Sounds like a lot," said Camille.

Young remarked, "Well it wouldn't fill a back yard swimming pool."

"Still it's enough to loosen the rationing restrictions, isn't it?"

"Camille," replied Everett, "I think I know where you're going with this and believe me when I say that I too could use a shower!"

There was general laughter at his comment, but Eli is laughing for another reason. "I don't think the showers use water. They just spray a sort of mist that you kind of stand in and it sort of beads up. There's one in the compartment off the crew quarters."

Scott asked, "How do you know all that if you haven't tried it?"

"How do you know I haven't tried it?" asked Eli.

Scott replied, "Oh, we know!"

"Thank you, Lieutenant Rose Garden!" exclaimed Eli.

Chloe, who was sitting next to Eli, said to Scott, "Oh, he's right. You're worse than he is!"

The colonel chuckled at their antics. "Wow! You can tell them apart!

After another round of general laughter, Dr. Brody got back on topic, "We also identified a recycling system for liquid waste, so once we get that system up and running…." His voice trailed off as Dr. Rush stomped into the room and sat down at a table without a word to anyone.

With that, Colonel Young decided to end the meeting. "Ok, folks. Let's have a better day than yesterday. Thank you." The group broke up, and most of them left the room. As Becker brought Rush a bowl of liquid food to his table, Young limped over to talk with him. "I ordered you here twenty minutes ago."

"I've been working," said Rush, "throughout the night actually, trying to find out why our power reserves are so low. I'm quite concerned, and so should you be."

Young asked, "Ok. Well, how bad is it?

Rush angrily replied, "I haven't been able to access any of the main systems yet, so I don't know."

Camille, who had joined them, said to Rush, "You look exhausted. Maybe you should take a break."

Nodding in agreement, Young added, "Get the information we need and make some informed decisions as we'll report back…" His voice trailed off as the lights flickered for a moment.

Rush dropped his bowl on the table noisily and pointed at Young. "Could you please stop people running around, activating every bloody system they can get their hands on?"

"I will."

Rush nodded in acknowledgement, and then raised his bowl toward Becker. Sarcastically, he said, "That was delicious. Thank you very much." He got up and left the room.

Young shook his head and said to no one in particular, "That man is a lot of work." Turning to Camille, he said, "Let's bring in the next group, please." He watched the group, which included Melissa, Greer, and TJ, file in and motioned for the three of them to come and sit at the table where he was sitting. Once more, Becker and his team handed out bowls of the liquid food. When he got to their table, he quietly asked TJ, "Which one's Mitchell?"

She motioned with her eyes to Melissa, and he nodded in thanks. A moment later, Becker handed Melissa her ration which she thanked him for. As they began eating, Young updated the group on what Dr. Rush had just told him. "It could be that Rush is just starting the fire so he can put it out, or it could be that he's so far ahead of us, he can see problems that none of us can see."

Dale Volker asked, "So what do you want us to do?"

"Help him," replied Camille.

Volker laughed sarcastically, "The man likes to work alone."

Camille said, "Well, with the way he's been treated, you can hardly blame him."

Greer remarked, "I can blame him all day long."

"Yeah," added TJ, "It's pretty hard not to, considering."

Camille shook her head and said, "This isn't helpful."

"Yeah, well it's the truth," said Greer.

A voice piped up from another table. It was Sergeant Spencer who said, "Greer's right, Rush is the reason we're here." He walked over to their table, and when he walked past Melissa, he did a double take. "Hey, she has a bigger ration than the rest of us. Why's that?"

Everett squeezed Melissa's hand under the table while Greer and TJ watched the action carefully. Melissa said, "None of your damn business, Sergeant."

The sergeant sneered and said, "I think it is my business," and pinned her hand on the table. "What are you going to do about it?"

Missy had never been so angry in her life. She looked at him defiantly while struggling to free her hand, but couldn't get it out from underneath his. "Well," said Spencer.

A loud noise sounded from across the table where Everett had slammed his bowl down. He stood up and eyeballed Spencer. "Sergeant Spencer, I will thank you to take your hands off my fiancée."

There were murmurs of astonishment around the room, but Spencer had no intention of giving ground. "I want to know why she's getting a larger ration."

"Enough!" exclaimed TJ. "Dr. Mitchell is getting a larger ration for medical reasons."

Spencer sneered again, "And what would those reasons be, Lieutenant?" He pressed down harder on Melissa's hand, and said, "I'll break it."

TJ said, "She's pregnant, that's why. Now, let go of her!"

The sergeant gave Melissa a piercing gaze. "Ok, I guess the rumors of the colonel having a whore are true. No, I won't let go yet." He twisted Missy's hands behind her back making her wince with pain. "I want to see how much fun I can have. Anyone care to join me?" The other marines shook their heads. This had gone way too far. "Alright, it's just you and me, bitch. Get up." He made Melissa get up and started edging toward the door with her.

Everett walked carefully towards him hoping to divert his attention from where Greer was coming up on him from behind. He said in a serious tone, "Spencer, you are making a very big mistake."

"I don't see where you're doing anything about it, old man."

The colonel then saw where Greer was in position and yelled, "Go limp, Missy." When she did, Greer was able to tackle him from behind and twist his arms together. He next took him to the front of the room while Dale Volker, who had caught Melissa as she was falling, took her back to the table where she had been sitting so TJ could look at her wrists and hands.

Greer looked at the entire group and said, "Ok, as an object lesson to all of you. Who can tell me where Dr. Mitchell was on the night of the attack?"

Lieutenant McDonald, who had been sitting in the back, raised his hand. "I can tell you, Sergeant."

"Go ahead."

"She was on Gun 1 with me shooting at who was attacking us."

"And did you notice anything that would indicate her condition?"

"Nope, she was defending the base, like any other SGC staff person would."

"Exactly," replied Greer. "She was defending your sorry asses. I want to make myself clear. No one is to bother Dr. Mitchell, or they will have to deal with me. Is that understood?"

The marines and civilians all nodded, and Greer turned to Young, "What do you want done with him, Sir?"

Everett walked up to Spencer. "Do you understand that what he just said goes double for me?"

"Yes, Sir!" replied Spencer.

He told Greer and the other two marines holding Spencer, "Take him to his quarters so he can cool off." He then walked back over to the table where Melissa was sitting with TJ and gently took her shaking hands in his own. She stammered, "I guess you were right, Ev. I'm still shaking."

"It's ok, Missy." The colonel then dismissed the meeting, and the majority of the marines and civilians headed out of the Mess. As the group was leaving, McDonald came up to Young and Melissa's table. He said, "Listen, I wanted to tell you, most everyone sitting back there was appalled at what Spencer did, but two of them would have joined him if they could have gotten away with it."

The colonel asked, "Which ones, Lieutenant?

"Saunders and Williams, Sir," replied McDonald.

"Thank you," said Young. "I really appreciate you coming forward. Can I ask you….?"

McDonald interrupted, "Why, Sir? Three years ago, my little sister was pregnant with her first baby. Her husband was deployed to Iraq. Dr. Mitchell reminds me of her; she was a little spitfire. Anyway, my sister was two months short of delivering, and...," he hesitated for a second. "She was raped and killed by two Marines with the same attitude as Spencer. That's not how Marines are supposed to behave. Sir, anything you need, I will help in any way I can."

Everyone at the table had tears in their eyes after hearing McDonald's story. Melissa held out a hand to him and said, "Thank you, Lieutenant."

"You're welcome, ma'am."

Young added, "You can be sure I will take you up on that." McDonald nodded and left the room as Greer was re-entering. He walked over and told Young, "Spencer's in his quarters. I left two marines there and said he wasn't to come out until one of us came back."

"Those marines weren't Saunders or Williams were they?"

"Nope," said Greer. "Wait, we have more people that want to cause trouble."

"Apparently so," replied Young. "McDonald told us they were having a nice little chat in the back, and if they hadn't of thought you would have torn them apart, they would have joined in."

"Bastards!" I guess we are on full protection detail."

"Yes." He looked back over at Melissa. "How are you feeling, sweetheart?"

She managed a small smile. "Better. Look, TJ wrapped my wrists."

TJ said, "She'll be sore for a while, Sir, but nothing's broken."

"Alright, well before all hell broke loose, I was going to tell you and Greer that Scott was checking out the other shuttle to see if it was operational. Why don't you take Melissa with you? She can do any translating that needs to be done."

"Sounds good, Sir."

Everett touched the top of Melissa's hand gently. "I'll check on you later, ok?"

She said, "That's fine, Ev," and the three of them left the room. Camille then walked over from where she had been talking to someone on the Mess staff. Young said to her, "Please tell me that's everyone."

"We still have the question of what to do with the senator's body," she replied.

"Yeah, we'll get to him. He's not going anywhere. I'd appreciate a file on everyone by sometime tomorrow. Nothing fancy."

Becker walked by at that moment and asked, "And my assignment, Sir?"

Young replied, "Recipes, Becker. For the love of God, recipes." He limped out of the Mess intending to head to the Control Room. As he started walking down the corridor, Camille ran to catch up with him. "Colonel."

"I thought we were done."

Camille said, "There's still dozens of human resource issues we need to talk about."

"Pick one."

Knowing he wouldn't like it, but feeling like she had to say it anyway, "You and Dr. Mitchell."

"Be very careful, Camille."

"I thought there were regulations against SGC team members being together, and I also thought both of you were married to other people."

"Melissa and I are very well aware of what would have happened if we had gotten back to Earth so you don't need to repeat it. I also should tell you that my wife has died and that Melissa is in the process of getting a divorce.

"I was just concerned about you not being conscious of your responsibilities."

Young gazed at her thoughtfully and then decided to ask her a question, "How long have been with the IOA, Camille?"

"Two years next month."

"Alright," he replied, "I think Melissa and I have you beat in the history with the SGC department. We have both been there for seven years, and we know our duty. We have done stints in Goa'uld and Ori prisons and have almost died. You don't have to worry about either of us forgetting that. At the same time though, we are no longer denying that we love each other. You can take that one to the bank, Camille." He then began walking down the corridor again as she stopped and looked at his back thoughtfully.

Further down the hallway, Sergeant Riley saw him coming and called out, "Colonel, look at what we figured out." The colonel walked over to where Riley and a few of the civilians had collected together lots of the crew's battery operated equipment "We're calling it a recharging plate." He held up a flashlight and pressed the switch several times to show that it was dead.

"Ok," said Young.

Riley then stood the flashlight on his newly named recharging plate and twiddled some knobs on the device as he spoke. "We've tweaked it so it works with Earth technology. For now we have to be careful not to leave them on the plate for too long or it fries the battery, but…" He switches off the device, takes the flashlight off, and presses the switch. When the flashlight turns on, he remarked, "Not bad, huh."

Young said, "It's great."

"Isn't it!"

"Turn it off."

Riley asked, "Why? We've got all these things to recharge."

"I know," replied Young, "but Rush says we have power issues. As soon as he gives the go-ahead, you kids can go crazy. For now, help me pass the word to stop pushing buttons." When he saw them nod in response to his request, he continued to walk down the corridor.

Meanwhile, on the shuttle, Lieutenant Scott had been sitting in one of the seats slowly working out how the controls worked. He poked the end of a pencil onto a button, and two panels lowered down from the ceiling above his head. Each of those had several more buttons on them. On the console ahead of him were raised buttons, each with an Ancient symbol on them. He put a thin piece of paper over the button he just pressed and started to rub the pencil over the top forming a tracing of the symbol. He looked up as TJ, Greer, and Melissa approached the entrance and said, "It's cool guys. This one's secure."

They walked into the shuttle and TJ asked, "You think you can fly this thing, man?"

Scott replied, "I can fly an F-302."

Greer snorted, "Yeah, in a simulator! This is a real spaceship, man."

"Yes, it is," said Scott.

While Greer wandered around the ship looking at it, Scott voiced what they were all feeling. "So, pretty screwed up, huh?"

TJ said, "Yeah, yeah, pretty screwed up."

"You think they're gonna work it out?" asked Greer.

Scott stated, "Well, we're pretty frickin' far from home, man I don't know. Not today." He looked at TJ. "You should have shipped out weeks ago, TJ. It's not right."

Greer added, "It ain't right at all."

TJ said, "Well, I'm here, so what do you want us to do?"

"Help me figure out what kind of bird we've got here. I was going to radio Brody for some translating help…"

TJ interrupted, "Don't need to. We brought our own translator." She motioned for Melissa to come from the back of the shuttle where she had been examining some of the consoles. Melissa smiled and said, "Hi again, Lieutenant."

Scott replied, "Hi Dr. Mitchell." Then he saw her bandaged wrists and said, "What the hell happened to you, ma'am? Sorry, excuse my language."

"That's all right."

Greer said, "You missed all the excitement at second Mess. Spencer decided to go nuts."

TJ interrupted, "Yeah, and tried to use Melissa here as a punching bag. Anyway, the colonel wants her here for the moment." She looked at Scott and mouthed, "Distraction."

Scott mouthed back, "Gotcha," and then pointed Melissa towards the controls. "This is what I need translated, ma'am."

She sat down at the console and said, "I'll get right on it. Oh, one other thing. I wanted to say thanks to all three of you. You don't know how much I appreciate all of the support."

Greer said, "No thanks necessary. You're SGC. That's what SGC does for each other."

Missy gave him a wry grin. "It seems you learned that better than Spencer, Saunders, or Williams."

Greer patted her on the shoulder as she started working. The three younger officers then moved to the back of the ship where Scott asked, "She was attacked by all three of them?"

Greer replied, "Nah, just Spencer. We found out later that Saunders and Williams wanted to participate, but didn't have the nerve.

"Was this because of the larger ration?"

TJ answered, "Yep."

"The colonel has to be desperate to get her home. I can't imagine."

"But you would never know it," said Greer. "The two of them are professional through and through."

"That's why we're standing behind them," said TJ. "Right, guys?" The other two nodded in agreement. "Oh, I almost forgot. We have another member on this protection squad."

"Who?" asked Scott?

TJ replied, "Jim McDonald. He told the colonel he would help in any way he could. Said Melissa reminds him of his sister who was raped and killed by two Marines when she was seven months pregnant."

"You know, I really hate that my branch of the service has all the nasty bastards," said Greer.

"I think you and McDonald make up for that, Greer. Don't worry about it," said Scott. They started examining some of the other consoles while Melissa was working.

In the meantime, Dr. Rush was working on the console in the Control Room when Colonel Young limped in still using his rifle as a base. Young said, "Scott's checking out the shuttle and seeing if it's operational. Everyone else is holding the work until you give the green light."

"Thank you."

"Look," remarked Young. "I want you to know that I'm well aware that in the field of Ancient technology, you're pretty much—you're the best I've got, but we can't be working at cross-purposes."

"All I ask is that you check with me before issuing orders."

Laughing in disbelief, Young said, "Check with you? No, see, you've got it backwards. If you're doing something, I want to know what it is, and this is not a request."

"Done! Fine! I'll tell you everything," said Rush.

"If there's an issue that affects everybody on this ship, like we're running out of power…"

"I think I already told you that," said Rush sarcastically.

"I'm not here to snipe your back or piss you off, but if we're gonna be on this ship for any length of time, we need to be on the same page."

Rush replied, "I think our length of time together on Destiny may be shorter than you think."

Gazing at him and not knowing quite what to think, Young said, "Ok, I get it. Who can I bring in to help?"

"Honestly? It may take longer than we've got to bring someone else up to speed."

The colonel slapped his hand onto the console and said, "Volker it is."

"Perfect! Terrific!"

"You can tell him to sit on his hands if you want to." As Young left the room, Rush buried his head in his hands in a mixture of frustration, anger, and exhaustion.

The colonel found Volker and told him to go to the control room and assist Rush. After that he walked to a room he had appropriated to use as his office and decided to check on Melissa before starting on some work he had to do. He got out his radio and said into it, "Young to Mitchell."

"Mitchell here."

"Hey, how's it going?" asked Everett.

"Hey yourself," replied Melissa. "We're making progress, nothing significant yet though. I'll let you know."

"That's fine. And you're doing ok, Missy?"

"I'm ok now, Ev." He could hear the smile in her voice so he knew she was telling the truth. "You should come down here later. This is some fascinating stuff."

"I will. Just to let you know, I'm doing some paperwork in that room we found yesterday. Call me if you need me."

Missy said, "I will, Ev. Mitchell out."

"Young out." The colonel then started on his work glad that he had found something to distract Missy from what had happened earlier. He worked for about 10 minutes looking up when he heard a noise to see Volker walking in. "You-you've got to be kidding me," he said.

Volker said, "Oh, no."

"You were in there 10 minutes."

"He kicked me out."

Gazing at him in disbelief, Young asked, "What-what's the matter with you? You're a grown man."

Volker exclaimed, "I know that! But he said, 'Out!'"

"Well, what the hell did you say to the man?"

"I didn't say anything!" replied Volker. "I was just trying to figure out what his problem was.

Young said, "It's our problem, Volker, not just his." I need you to get your ass back in there…"

"I'm telling you, he's gone crazy."

"Well, we already knew that. Go."

Volker stated, "This isn't the old crazy. This is a whole new crazy."

"Would you like me to hold your hand, is that it? Is that-is that what you need me to do?"

"Come on, Colonel, I'm trying here…"

Thinking about how nice it would be if something would actually go right for him for once, Young stood up and said, "All right. Here we go. Let's do this. I'll take you there myself." He started to walk out of the room and thought to himself, 'Geeze, Missy has been the only one of them to stand up to that son of a bitch. I can't put her in that position now.' He then said out loud, "Oh, for God's sake, Volker. If you people can't stand up to that son of a bitch…"

Just then all of the lights went out, and Destiny exited FTL coming out into normal space. All around the ship, people looked around in amazement as the lights went out, leaving just a few emergency lights on. Young and Volker entered the Control Room, and Young asked, "Did you do that, Rush?"

Laughing bitterly, Rush replied, "Is that what you think? No! No, I didn't. But I have been standing here for the past few minutes watching systems fail all over the ship, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. The FTL drive was among the last to go."

Volker said, "We could be in range of a stargate."

Rush let out another bitter laugh, pointing to Volker while looking at Young. "You see what I mean? No, there's no countdown." He pointed to the counter above the doorway.

Young shined his flashlight up there, but the display was unlit. He said to Rush, "Well, there's gotta be emergency reserves."

"I don't think you seem to understand what's going on here, Colonel. Our "reserves" are gone. All of our power is gone."

"Do you mean there's no power to the stargate either?"

"Nope, let's go to the Gate Room, and I will show you." The three men head out of the Control Room and walk towards the Gate Room. On the way, Young asked Rush, "So, it wasn't anything you did?"

Rush said, "Since we arrived, I have been unable to access any of the core systems – power, navigation, or propulsion."

The colonel gritted his teeth and asked, "Why didn't you bring somebody else in on this?"

"Because I'm the only qualified person."

"You see, this is what I'm talking about," commented Young.

Volker interrupted, "Maybe it's like a Lantean device – you need the Ancient gene to access the…"

Rush said, "Destiny pre-dates that technology."

"Do you know that for a fact?" asked Young.

Turning around with a furious expression on his face, Rush yelled, "Yes, Colonel. I know many things for a fact! I know you asked Gorman to poke around in the weapons systems, for a fact. I know you have ordered teams of people all over the ship to do things that they know nothing about, for a fact! He stormed down the corridor, and Young and Volker followed him.

Young said, "Right. You think all these things add up to this, Rush? Does that make sense to you?

Rush walked over to the stargate console and tapped it angrily, showing that it was inactive. "Look! Look! No, you're right. You are right. It was your reckless, pointless attempt to dial Earth that robbed me of the time I needed to solve this problem!"

"Maybe we're just missing something," suggested Young.

"Yes," exclaimed Rush. "The opportunity of a lifetime-because you wouldn't listen to me!" His face crumpled in anguish, and he turned away, putting his hand to his face as if he was about to burst into tears.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Sacrifice

Author's Notes: Refer to first chapter.

Disclaimer: Refer to first chapter.

Young took out his radio and activated it, "TJ, this is Young. I could use a medic in the Gate Room. Bring Melissa with you."

Pacing around the room, Rush stated, "I refuse to be held responsible for this situation."

"Nobody's blaming you."

"I ran out of time!"

"We can fix this."

Almost apoplectic with rage at this point, Rush yelled, "Fix this! What, you think just because you give the order that's it's possible? There is no more power! Destiny saved every last ounce of its reserves for life support, and I've seen it happening. I've seen it being sequestered away from me. I tried to…I tried to stop it, but I couldn't!"

"Rush…"

"In a few days' time, this…" Rush clutches his hand to his head in pain. "….this ship will go dark. It will go dark and cold…" He crumpled to the floor unconscious. Young dropped to his knees beside him and activated his radio again. "TJ, now!"

A few minutes later TJ and Melissa came running in. As TJ went to examine Rush, Melissa walked over to Everett and the others and said, "You asked for me?"

"Yes," replied Everett. "I need your input, Missy."

"Understood," she said. She walked with them back to the Control Room, and they took a few minutes to examine all of the consoles. It was like Rush had said though. There was no power flow to any of them. Finally, the colonel asked for an update. "So…"

Volker said, "Rush was right. Everything but life support is dead."

"Why now?" asked Young. "Why just when we show up?"

"Because we just showed up."

Dr. Brody interjected, "There's the stargate. It's a power hog, and we had it on all day yesterday."

Melissa added, "There's still some power and the shields are still working to some degree but…"

…. "Again, that's to keep us alive," said Brody.

"For how long?" asked Young?

Brody said, "We're gonna have to wait for Rush to wake up for an answer to that one."

Melissa shook her head in exasperation while Everett said, "TJ says he's not gonna be up for a while. So—where does that leave us?"

Volker and Brody both said, "Dead."

"Not right away," said Melissa turning to Eli who nodded in agreement with her.

"Yeah, we have days," said Volker. "Maybe a lot of days, but if there's no stargate in range…"

…. "And there's not," said Eli.

"We don't have the power to dial out anyway," said Brody."

"So, it's a race between food, water, and life support," said Volker.

"I don't buy that," said Young.

Volker poked at the various control panels which remained silent. "We can't do anything without access to the ship's systems. I mean, I could stand here all day."

Wondering how the man ever got his degree, Young turned away from him and said, "Eli. Melissa."

Eli replied, "I put a kino in a search mode and sent it into unpressurized areas of the ship, looking for an active console somewhere. Nothing yet."

Melissa stated, "I've been at the shuttle for the last couple of hours translating control panels for Lieutenant Scott. There might be a way we could integrate the shuttle's power with the ship's system, but it doesn't look real promising."

"So, you two are working the problem?"

Eli and Melissa looked at each other and said, "Yeah!"

Young looked at Brody and Volker who had the grace to look embarrassed. "Listen, when I was asked to lead SG-16 seven years ago, I was hesitant on leading a science team, but I found out very quickly that Melissa knows her stuff." He then pointed to Eli and said, "And we also have the computer hacking drop-out here. Now, I will give them all the credit when they save our asses if you don't wish to have any. Are you gonna get your heads out of yours?"

Brody and Volker exchange glances for a moment. Then Brody turned back to Young and said, "The shuttle idea's pretty good."

Volker added, "Yeah, there might be a workaround."

"Well, let's do that," said Young who looked over at Melissa and rolled his eyes before motioning for her to go with them. He turned to Eli and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," said Eli. "Oh, by the way, it's MIT drop-out."

"You want a gold star for that?"

"No, I just…"

Young said, "Do something. I'm gonna be gone for an hour or so."

"Gone?"

"To report this mess. If you need me, yank me back." He left the room heading to the room where they were keeping the stones. Deciding he should probably let Melissa know he was leaving, he activated his radio, "Young to Mitchell."

"Mitchell here."

"Hey, thought I'd let you know I'm going to report this mess to Earth. Be gone for about an hour or so."

"Understood. We'll be at the shuttle working."

"Be careful, Missy."

"You too. Mitchell out." Melissa and Brody headed over towards the shuttle as Volker had told them he was going to try some of the consoles in the smaller control room. When they got to the cross corridor leading to the crew quarters, Melissa said, "A couple of the words were giving me problems earlier. I have a reference book in my quarters that should help. Meet you at the shuttle?"

"Sure, see you there," said Brody.

Melissa turned to the right and walked towards her quarters. When she was almost there, she realized that this was the first time she had been alone since Spencer had attacked her that morning. Shaking her head at her nervousness, she told herself, 'I can't be jumping at every ghost.' She walked into her and Ev's quarters and started rummaging in her bag. When she found the book she wanted, she turned to leave and then heard a voice in the doorway. "I knew the bitch would come back here at some point."

There were two figures standing there who Melissa assumed to be the other two that McDonald had told them about. She said, "Saunders and Williams, I presume. No, I'm not interested in a party with you either. Get out of my way."

Missy tried to duck past them in a hurry, but one of the men grabbed her arm and said, "No, no, no, we have to have the party first. All nice and dark….." He grunted in pain as she kneed him in the groin, but the other one was quick to grab her.

He said, "That wasn't nice, bitch," and slapped her hard enough that she fell onto the bed. Dazed, Melissa knew she was very close to something very bad happening if she couldn't get any help. She was able to get one loud scream off before one of the men came and covered her mouth and pulled her pants off while the other held her down as he started to take his pants off. Truly terrified, she struggled as hard as she could against their hold trying to protect her baby, but it didn't do her any good. A minute later, though, the miracle came that she had been praying for. A voice at the door said, "Dr. Mitchell, are you ok?" It was Lieutenant McDonald. The voice distracted the man holding the hand on her mouth, and she was able to wiggle it off and scream again.

The two men turned towards McDonald and one of them said, "You should just walk away."

"Not a chance. The two of you need to get the hell out of here."

"And you're going to make us? You and what army?"

Three other marines appeared behind McDonald who said, "That army. Or should I call Sergeant Greer so he can tear you apart? I might just do it anyway. That would be worth selling tickets for." He motioned to the other guys. "Lock them up in their quarters. Young and Greer can decide what to do with them."

One of the other marines said, "Gladly, they're not worthy to be Marines." The three picked the other two up off the bed and manhandled them out of the room. When they were gone, McDonald sat on the bed next to where Melissa had curled herself up into a ball and was silently sobbing. He touched her shoulder and said, "Dr. Mitchell, should I call Lieutenant Johansen?"

She made herself focus on the voice. "No, Lieutenant. Don't –want—to—be—here."

McDonald thought to himself, 'Damn, I should have thought of that.' He asked out loud, "Where is she, Doc? Do you know? Or more important, where's the colonel?"

Making a big effort, she stammered, "The colonel's- using the-communication stones-to report to Earth. TJ's—at—the shuttle."

"Ok, shuttle it is then." He offered a hand which she stared at for a moment, and then seeing the compassion in his eyes, took it and let him help her fix her pants and stand up. "You just hold onto my arm. I'll get you there. You know, my nickname's Mac. You're welcome to use it if you want."

She nodded in acknowledgement and said unsteadily, "Thank you Mac. Mine's Melissa."

They walked down the hall together slowly and finally got to the shuttle. Right before they got to the entrance, they heard Greer's voice say, "Where's Dr. Mitchell? And Brody's voice say in response, "She was getting a book from her quarters." And then Greer's voice again, "You left her by herself?" Mac gave Melissa a small smile and said, "I guess we get to make an entrance."

He walked her to the door and said to the group inside, "Did you guys lose someone?" The four people inside turned towards the entrance and gasped. TJ rushed forward and helped Mac get her to a seat. As she started looking at Melissa's injuries, she asked Mac, "What happened?

Melissa spoke very slowly and softly, "They tried—to—rape me."

"Oh, my god!" exclaimed TJ. She motioned for Mac to go to the back of the shuttle with the other guys while she gave her a careful exam.

While she was doing that, the guys were talking; Greer and Scott looking like they could kill someone. Greer asked Mac, "Who was it?"

He replied, "It was Saunders and Williams. They were lying in wait for her at her quarters."

Scott said, "How did you…"

"Peterson, Carter, and Reynolds were with me. We took care of them in short order. I had the others lock them up. I figured you or the colonel could take care of them."

"You got that right," swore Greer.

Brody said to them, "Dammit, this is my fault. Why, the hell, were they going after her?"

Scott said, "I guess no one told you, and the whole bit came out at second Mess. Here's the short version. Dr. Mitchell is the colonel's fiancée. She's pregnant, and Sergeant Spencer didn't care for the fact that she was getting a larger ration. He tried to take her out of there this morning, but Greer stopped him. Saunders and Williams wanted to copy him, but didn't have the nerve earlier."

"She's pregnant, and she's already been attacked once today!" exclaimed Brody. "God, I'm going to have nightmares about this for a long time."

Mac said, "I'm just glad I wasn't five minutes later. Then it would have been my sister all over again. Listen, she told me where the colonel was. Having him here will be the best thing for her right now. Any way we can yank him back?"

"That will be a bit problematic," replied Scott. "Telford is the one that's visiting us, and he thinks the colonel is the one that caused the power to shut down. He's already been here once." They heard a voice bellowing from down the hall. "And there he is again."

Telford came around the corner and saw the four of them at the entrance of the shuttle. "Lieutenant Scott, I gave you a direct order."

Scott replied, "Sir, I understand that you gave me a direct order, and I respectfully suggest it would be a complete waste of time. I'm telling you—the ship came here for a reason."

Gazing into the shuttle itself, Telford saw where TJ and Melissa were sitting at the front. "What the hell's going on in there?"

"Dr. Mitchell was attacked earlier, and Lieutenant Johansen is examining her," said Scott.

Telford yelled, "I don't care about that! She probably deserved it. Someone told me what a slut she's been. I want you to get on the communication stones and tell them Young needs to be replaced."

Scott looked at the other three men—their expressions of horror matching his own, and he saw where TJ and Melissa had looked up at the loud voice so he knew they had heard as well. He told Telford, "No, Sir, I will not!"

"Yes, you will, Lieutenant! You need to care more about what I want than about her. She deserved it!"

Greer looked angry enough to punch him out, but then noticed that his expression had changed. The colonel asked, "Who deserved what?"

"Colonel Young, is that you?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, yeah, it's me," he said. "Who deserved what?"

"Thank God, you're back, Sir," said Scott. "Listen, before you go in the shuttle…." He took a deep breath and continued, "Saunders and Williams ambushed Dr. Mitchell at your quarters and tried to rape her."

An expression of horror came over Young's face as he looked at his watch. "What, I've only been gone for two hours! What the hell happened!"

"She had gone there to get a reference book apparently, and they were lying in wait. If it wasn't for McDonald here, it would have been a lot worse."

"Where are they now?"

"They've been locked up."

"Ok, we'll finish this in a few minutes." He ran in the shuttle. TJ met him halfway. "I gathered it was you, Sir. She's got a black eye and some bruising on the lower abdomen, genitals, shoulders, and arms from where they held her down."

"What about the baby?"

TJ looked back at Melissa who had put her head in her hands again. "I think the baby's fine. Listen, she is still very skittish, and she heard everything Telford said.

"What did he say?"

Pressing her lips together tightly, she replied, "About her deserving it and about her being a slut."

"That son of a bitch!" he exclaimed. "Ok, thanks TJ." Everett walked towards the seat where Melissa was sitting and sat down beside her. He said, "Melissa, honey, it's me, Everett."

She looked up at him not quite believing her ears, "Ev, sweetheart, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me, baby. I am so sorry." He held out his arms as she reached out for him and started to sob. They stayed that way for several minutes, Ev rubbing her back and murmuring into her ear. When she was finally spent, he asked her, "Missy, would you like TJ to take you to go lie down?"

"No, Ev!" she said. "I don't want to go back there, and I don't want to be alone. Can I stay here please? I won't bother…."

Appalled at what she thought, he replied, "No, sweetheart, you're not bothering anyone. And, of course, you can stay here. I'm going to go talk to Scott. I'll be right back."

Missy nodded in gratitude, and he walked over to the group at the back of the shuttle. Answering the question in their eyes, he said, "It's going to take a while. Listen, a couple of things. First, I need to find someone willing to switch quarters with us. No way am I taking her back there."

Mac responded, "I'll do it."

"Thanks Lieutenant," said Young. "And I owe you big for earlier—something I'll never be able to repay."

He held out his hand, and Mac shook it and said, "You're welcome, Sir. I just did what I wish someone would have done for my sister."

Young nodded as he continued, "I need some thoughts from all of you about what to do with our prisoners. If it were up to me, I would shoot them all out of an airlock and not worry anymore about it, but we probably don't need to be doing that.

"Why not?" asked Greer.

TJ replied, "Because the rest of the ship won't trust the colonel's leadership if we do. And before you say anything, Greer, I feel the same way."

Young stated, "TJ's absolutely right. So, let me know. Finally, what's the deal with the ship? Where are we now?"

"We need to show you, Sir," said Scott taking him to the front of the shuttle. TJ and Greer went with them while Brody and Mac sat on the bench with Melissa. Appearing absolutely devastated, Brody said, "Dr. Mitchell, I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am."

Almost in a whisper, Melissa said, "Don't blame yourself. I just didn't want to have to be afraid of going anywhere by myself." Tears started spilling down her face again as Mac put an arm around her shoulders in comfort.

Nodding at her in thanks, Brody went up to the colonel and said, "I'm going to go find Volker and see what he was able to find out."

"Ok," replied Young looking over at Melissa and giving her a reassuring smile. Brody left the shuttle, and Young turned to Scott and asked, "Ok, what are we looking at here?"

Scott directed him to the control panel. "Sir, I think we're about to do an aero braking maneuver around that gas giant and end up somewhere in the solar system. And see those three planets?" He pointed to the panel. "There's a chance that one of them might be habitable."

A jumble of thoughts went through Everett's mind especially after what had just happened. If they could find a world that was habitable, it would be a chance for a new start and a place to raise his family. He gazed over at Melissa who gave him a hesitant smile and a thumbs up. It continually amazed him how much they were in synch. Thinking to himself, 'Let's not get too excited until we know for sure,' he said out loud, "We need to get Rush's input on this. TJ, can you check on him, please, and bring him here if he's up?"

She replied, "Sure." Motioning to Melissa, she added, "You ok, here."

"Yep, she's here for the duration. No plans to let her out of my sight. In fact, Missy, there's a good view from here. Would you like a front seat?"

She nodded, and he walked back to the passenger seats to gently help her up. Anchoring his arm around her waist, he assisted her in sitting down in one of the pilot seats and then sent TJ on her way to Dr. Rush's quarters. Arriving there a few minutes later, TJ walked over to the bed and saw Dr. Rush beginning to stir. When he had opened his eyes fully and could see her, she asked, "Hey, how are you?"

Rush looked around and realized that he was lying in a bed. He asked a question of his own, "How did I get here?"

TJ chuckled a little and replied, "You're not that heavy."

He groaned and sunk his head back into the pillow as he realized what happened, but TJ went ahead and explained anyway, "You passed out for a little while."

"How long was I out?"

"About 10 hours."

Rush sat up abruptly, shocked that so much time had passed as TJ said, "It's probably the first real sleep you've had since we arrived here."

"Has anything happened?"

"Not since we lost power, no. You've haven't missed a thing."

Grimacing as the pain in his head threatened to overwhelm him again, Rush put his hand to his head which TJ noticed. She asked, "How do you feel?"

"Embarrassed," he replied.

"Don't be."

"Oh, you weren't there."

"Your head's pounding, right?" He nodded as she continued, "How many cups of coffee do you normally drink a day? Four, five?" He gestured to indicate a higher number than that, and she nodded sympathetically. "You're in caffeine withdrawal. So are about a dozen other people onboard. It can make you pretty crazy. You should see the smokers."

Rush laughed ruefully and said, "You're looking at one."

"Double whammy, huh? I was gonna let you sleep it off, but the colonel wants you to see something, so let's go."

Meanwhile, at the shuttle, the five occupants had been watching the gas giant get closer. Melissa leaned over to Everett who was sitting on the ledge next to her chair and said, "You know, that's really pretty," indicating the planet.

He gave her a soft smile and replied, "Just like you, sweetheart."

Covering her black eye in shame, Melissa shook her head and said, "You don't mean….."

Ev reached out with his hand, covered hers, and then clasped it. With the other one, he touched her face and remarked, "Yes, I do. Just like you." As he continued to softly stroke her face, he asked, "Does it hurt?

"Not much," replied Missy.

"I want you to listen to me, baby. If I have to say 'I love you' and 'you're beautiful' a hundred times a day to get you to believe it, I will. We are going through this one together. That's a promise you can count on."

Overwhelmed with all of the emotions that she had experienced that day, she told him, "Ev, I'm not sure if you know how much that means to me. Thank you. I love you."

He kissed her forehead and said, "You're welcome. I love you too." At that moment, they heard a noise at the back of the shuttle. Young turned, saw TJ and Rush, and greeted them, "Come on in."

Looking at the approaching planet as he walked in and immediately realizing what was happening, Rush asked, "Orbital insertion trajectory?"

Scott replied, "That was my first thought."

Greer added, "No, your first thought was we were gonna fly into the damned thing!"

"No, sir," said Scott. "I'm guessing we'll get close enough to kiss, but not enough for capture."

"An aero braking maneuver?" asked Rush.

"Well that's over my head but, yeah, should come out of the slingshot somewhere in the system."

Rush stated, "Where there are habitable planets."

The colonel looked accusingly at Johansen who said, "I didn't tell him!"

"No," said Rush, "but you're all smiling."

Scott said, "Well, we're still too far off to know if they're anything more than rocks, but we found three candidates before Big Bertha filled up the sky."

"So, this trajectory is no accident then." He glanced at the stickers that have been attached below the buttons on the consoles hanging from the ceiling. Nodding in approval at most of the placements, he just removed two and placed them in the opposite position.

Young said, "Well, the man's quick! We'll know once we're clear."

Scott added, "That'll be in, uh, about six minutes."

Looking around at all of them, Rush asked, "Who translated this? It was pretty accurate."

Missy turned around in her seat. "That would be me, Dr. Rush."

Startled by the appearance of her injured face and wrists, Rush said to her, "Dr. Mitchell, what in the world…" His voice trailed off as he saw the colonel give a small warning shake of his head. Rush continued, "Anyway, it was just these two that weren't right. He pointed to the stickers he had changed.

"I'm not surprised. Those were the ones I was having trouble with." She started trembling as she remembered that her difficulty with those words had been what started the timeline that had led to her attack. Everett put his hand on her shoulder which slowed and then stopped the trembling.

Scott said, "Well, pull up a chair, sir. This'll be a show you don't want to miss."

"So, we're clear," stated Young. "My definition of 'habitable' includes a sandy beach, a tropical climate…" Amid the general laughter, Missy reached up and squeezed his hand. She whispered, "You know, you're still incorrigible."

He whispered back, "I made you laugh. That was the point."

Rush interrupted as he took one of the seats, "There's gonna be some severe turbulence when we contact the atmosphere."

Young hopped off the ledge and said, "We'll pass the word.

Rush said, "Colonel, about our previous conversation."

"Rush, no need to apologize," Young replied.

"I wasn't about to. Only trying to explain I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I know all about it." He leaned down, kissed Missy on the forehead, and whispered to her. "Stay here, Babe, Ok."

She replied, "I will, Ev."

He then walked back to Greer who was waiting to escort him out and quietly said about Rush, "Lotta work." A few minutes later, they were walking along a darkened corridor. Young pulled out his radio and spoke into it, "This is Young. We are expecting some atmospheric turbulence in a few minutes. Find a secure place and point your asses down." He turned it off and put it back on his belt.

Meanwhile, Greer who had been carefully observing the corridor ahead of them saw something unusual. He grabbed his pistol and aimed it into the darkness. They heard a voice that sounded like Sergeant Riley. "Whoa, don't shoot! It's me!" The voice was coming from a floating kino.

Greer asked, "You can talk through that thing?"

"Hey, I can talk through this thing!" exclaimed Riley. At that moment, Lieutenant James came out of her sleeping quarters and stared at the kino. Riley and Eli rounded the corner at the same moment with Riley holding the kino's remote control. Riley pointed to Eli and said, "I asked him how the kino worked…"

Eli talked over him, "Yeah, yeah!"

James, who was wearing only a vest and shorts, stared at them, the kino, and then down at her own clothing. Realizing that the kino was about to enter her room, or even worse, had just left her room; James glared at both Riley and Eli.

Eli tried to explain. "We took a wrong turn!"

James was having none of that. "I can and will kick your ass."

"No…"

Young interrupted, "Let's do that later. We're gonna pass very close to a gas giant in a few minutes. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. We're short on radios. Help me spread the word." He looked at the lieutenant as she continued to glare at Riley and Eli. "Lieutenant, I will talk to them. I promise."

She replied, "Yes, sir.

"Thank you."

Before going back into her quarters to get dressed, she stared at them one more time with murderous promise in her expression.

The colonel turned back towards Riley and Eli with a very severe look on his face. "Wrong turn, really? Let me tell you boys something which is probably not widely known yet. We have already had one assault on a female crew number today. I am NOT tolerating any of this garbage. Is that understood?"

They both nodded and said, "Yes sir!"

He told them, "Go. Help. Now." They hurried off as Young and Greer continued to patrol the halls.

Meanwhile, Destiny traveled into the edge of the gas giant's gravity well. Many people had gathered on the Observation Deck and were standing and watching the view. Rush, Scott, TJ, Melissa, and McDonald were in the shuttle. Scott activated his radio and said, "Ninety seconds to contact." He continued counting down in thirty second increments as the other occupants of the shuttle buckled seat belts across their laps.

In a corridor, several crew members sat down on the floor automatically moving toward the wall. Young saw them and said, "No, no, no. I need everyone away from the walls. The turbulence could break your back." The crew members then moved into the middle of the corridor, and Young walked on.

Back in the shuttle, Scott scrunched his eyes closed in dread as the vibration got worse. Destiny began to skim the upper atmosphere of the planet. The vibration increased, and people all over the ship were being shaken as they clung to whatever they could. Finally, the shaking began to subside as Destiny soared out and away from the planet on her new route into the solar system.

In the shuttle, Scott straightened up and whooped in relief as he exclaimed, "Hell of a ride, huh?"

He, Johansen, and McDonald all laughed while Melissa had the first smile on her face that reached her eyes since she had been attacked. Rush looked around at all of them and said, "Yes, yes, it was. Now, let's find these planets you were talking about."

"There they are, dead ahead," said Scott getting up and pointing to a screen on the console which indicated them.

Young came back in the shuttle and asked, "We clear?"

"Yes, sir," replied Scott. "Did you catch any of that?"

"No, I couldn't get back in time," said Young walking up behind Melissa and touching her shoulder.

While the colonel was chatting with the three officers, Rush stared at the screen on the console. He said, "This is—is unbelievable. Look at this." When the military officers didn't respond, he motioned to Melissa who had not been participating in the conversation and asked, "Dr. Mitchell am I seeing this right?"

Her eyes widened in panic as she saw the new trajectory. She grabbed Everett's arm while Rush spoke again to get their attention. "Please, please everyone be quiet!" Everyone went silent, and Rush continued to speak. "Our trajectory has changed."

Scott looked at the screen and said, "Oh, no."

"Changed?" asked TJ.

"The planet has altered Destiny's course more than we had hoped," replied Rush.

"What are you talking about, Rush?" asked Young.

When Rush didn't speak, he asked the same question of Lieutenant Scott. "Lieutenant, what the hell's he talking about?"

After not getting a response from either of them, he gazed at Missy who had a look of utter panic on her face. "Missy, do you know what they're talking about?"

She nodded and pointed at the screen which showed the new course—Destiny flying straight towards the sun. Once he realized the implications of what he was seeing, Everett's eyes widened in shock. He turned towards Rush and asked, "There's no chance this is a mistake?"

Rush shook his head and said, "No, these panels are tied into the core systems that we haven't been able to access yet, but they are directly related to the progress of the ship."

"And we have no power to divert our course?"

"No."

Gazing at the screen again and then at the ship's forward progress through the solar system, the frustrations of the day finally caught up to Everett. He thought to himself, 'Dammit, what are we supposed to do now? All of these people are looking to me, and I don't have a clue. The only thing I want to do is get Melissa back to Earth safely.' As this jumble of thoughts rushed through his head, he felt small fingers interlacing with his own. Melissa had stood up and walked over to where he was standing at the window. She asked him, "Isn't this a working shuttle? Maybe we can use it to transport people if we find a habitable planet in the system."

Giving her a look of amazement, Everett said, "Melissa, you're right. This is a working shuttle!" He turned to the others and asked, "Right? Is this something we can even think about?"

Scott replied, "I would think so, Sir. It shouldn't be a problem at all. We would have to make more than one trip though to take everyone aboard and the supplies we would need.

"Ok, this is what I want," said Young. "Scott, you and TJ go find Greer, and then the three of you go to the storeroom and look at what we have, see how many trips you think it would take to transport.

TJ spoke up, "Camille's already made a list."

"That'll be even better," stated Young. "There's a room at the end of the crew quarters hall that I've been using as an office. Meet us there in an hour. And mum's the word right now, ok?

Scott and TJ both said, "Yes, Sir," and hurried out.

The colonel turned to Rush and said, "I would like you to evaluate the fitness of the shuttle for making more than one trip. How long will it be before we can find out about those planets and how long do we actually have?

Rush glanced at the control panel again and replied, "We have about a day and a half, and it will be about 10 – 12 hours before we're in range to get any good data about the planets.

"Alright, see what you can find out and come let me know in an hour."

"I can do that, colonel." Rush sat down and started working.

Mac, who had been quiet up to this point, asked, "What do you want me to do, Sir?

Young replied, "I have a couple of things for you, Lieutenant. First, I just remembered that there are quarters attached to the room I'm using as an office. It would probably be better if I just moved Missy and me in there so you don't need to move, but could you please go to our old room and get our stuff?

"I can do that," said Mac. "What else?"

Gazing over at Melissa who had tightened her grip on his arm and started to look a little pale, he said, "Actually, before you do that, why don't you walk with us down there. I'm not sure how steady Missy's going to be, and I think I might need an extra set of hands." He held up the rifle he was still using as a crutch.

"I would be glad too," said Mac. "Get in some more big brother practice." He offered an arm to Melissa. "Your chariot awaits, milady."

"Thanks Mac," said Missy who took his arm with a grateful smile. As the three of them walked out of the shuttle, Young said to Rush, "Remember, my office, in an hour." Rush nodded his head in acknowledgement, and the other three headed out.

As they slowly walked down the hall, they passed a few people who did a double-take when they saw Missy's injuries. She asked Ev and Mac, who each had one of her arms, "Do I look that bad?" The guys looked at each other uncertainly wondering how to answer her. She gave them a sheepish grin and replied, "Forget I said that."

When they were almost at the end of the crew quarters hall, they ran into Peterson who said to them, "Hi Mac. Hello Sir. Doc, I'm glad to see you on your feet."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," said Melissa. All of a sudden she felt dizzy and woozy. "But I don't think I'm going to be on them for…"

Everett said, "Missy, are you ok?"

She shook her head, fainted and would have fallen to the ground if it hadn't have been for Mac supporting her weight. "Ok, some help here." Peterson grabbed her legs while Mac looked at Colonel Young and said, "Which room, Sir?

"It's that next one on the left," he replied. They carried her in and put her on the bed. Ev came and sat on the edge of the bed nearly frantic with worry, and said, "Missy, baby, come on, wake up for me."

Mac checked her breathing which was stable, but then a thought occurred to him. "Sir, has she eaten since this morning?"

"I don't think so," said Ev. "Ok, this is low blood sugar. Run down to our old quarters and get her duffle and canteen. There's something in the duffle she can have."

Mac said, "I'm on it. Be back shortly." He ran out of the room. The colonel turned to Peterson and said, "My canteen's on the desk. Can you get it please?"

After Peterson handed him the canteen, Everett said, "Help me sit her up. We need to get her to drink some of this." He then put the canteen to her lips, slowly raised it, and said, "Come on baby, you need to drink it." About a minute later, he was rewarded with the sound of a small cough and then with her eyes opening. She managed a few more swallows and motioned for him to take it away.

Looking around bewilderedly, Melissa noticed she was sitting up in a bed and hoarsely croaked out, "What happened, sweetheart?"

"You fainted, Missy, and gave me the scare of my life. Mac's gone down to get your duffle. We think you might have low blood sugar.

Missy nodded and said, "I'm sorry. That sounds about right. I haven't eaten anything since this morning."

A short while later, Mac came back with the bag and placed it on the bed. "Hey Doc. Glad to see your eyes open again." He opened it and took the two bags on top out. "This is what you want, right?"

When she saw the bag of snack bars and Propel, she nodded and said, "Thanks Mac." Turning to Everett, she said, "Could you open those for me? I think two of each should do it. Put the Propel in my water."

"You got it, sweetheart." He opened two of the bars and handed them to her, and then shook two of the powder mixes into her water. She started cautiously munching on one of the bars, and the fog cleared out of her mind as the food got into her system. Noticing that her eyes were beginning to clear, Ev asked, "Is that better, Babe?"

"Yes, it is. Thank you." Missy rubbed her belly and told him, "I think our little angel is going to let me know when she doesn't have what she needs."

Ev said, "I think you're right." He touched her stomach and remarked, "Little angel, we're going to make sure you don't have to do that again. You almost gave Daddy a heart attack." He glanced at the other two men in the room. "Thank you both."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Sacrifice

Author's Notes: Refer to first chapter.

Disclaimer: Refer to first chapter.

Peterson replied, "You're welcome, Sir. Listen, can I talk with you for a second?"

"Sure," said Ev. They walked near the door while Melissa was finishing her snack and chatting with Mac.

"Sir," said Peterson, "I was actually looking for you when we met up. There's a problem with the prisoners. With all the commotion today, no one ever made it back to talk with them. That IOA lady is pushing for them to be released from confinement."

"Why am I not surprised? I think Spencer would be fine, but Saunders and Williams actually assaulted Melissa. No, they're staying in confinement. I should probably go down there." Everett walked back towards the bed. "Missy, I need to go take care of something before the meeting."

Melissa said, "That's fine, Ev."

He then looked at Mac and asked, "Lieutenant, can you please stay with her until I come back?

"I can do that," said Mac.

Everett said, "Ok Peterson, you come with me," and the two of them headed out of the room, went down the corridor, and turned left into the other crew section. When they got to the two rooms that had guards outside of them, they also saw where several people had gathered, one of which was Camille Wray. Everett walked up and said to the group, "There is no reason for you all to be here. Go back to your quarters." Everyone in the crowd dispersed except for Camille. The colonel gazed at her directly and said, "If you have something to say, say it."

She replied, "These men have been confined for too long."

"If you remember, Camille, we've been quite busy today. I'm here to take care of at least one of them now." He asked the guard which one Spencer was in, and he and Peterson walked into that room. Spencer immediately stood at attention when the Colonel barked, "Sergeant Spencer!"

He replied, "Yes, Sir!"

"You were prevented from doing something very foolish today."

"Yes, Sir! I don't know what came over me, Sir."

Giving one of his intimidating commander looks, Everett said, "I am inclined to release you from confinement under one condition."

"What's that, Sir?"

"Stay away from Dr. Mitchell. There's no reason for you to be near her. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Ok, I am releasing the guard, and you are free to move about the ship. If I hear that you have been near Dr. Mitchell, you will be confined again."

"Yes, Sir."

They walked out, and Young told the guard that he could go. He then turned to Camille and said, "How much do you know about what the other two did?"

"I don't know anything. I just saw the lieutenant here and two others put them in confinement a few hours ago."

"Well," replied Young. "They actually committed a crime that the lieutenant here witnessed. I'm going to let him tell you."

Peterson said, "Ma'am, they assaulted a female crew member and attempted to rape her and would have succeeded if me and the other three guys with me had been coming down the hall five minutes later."

After hearing the story of what had happened, Camille went very pale. She asked, "How is she doing?"

Young replied, "Lieutenant Johansen has treated her injuries. She is very shaken up. So, the other two men will be staying in confinement until I have decided what kind of military punishment system we are going to have out here. And yes, Camille, that is my decision as those men are military, and I am their commander."

"I understand, Colonel," said Camille. "Thank you for informing me of the situation." She then headed down the hall.

Young told Peterson to establish a rotating guard system for the room Saunders and Williams were in and that Sergeant Greer would be back to check with them later. He then went back down the corridor towards his quarters arriving there a few minutes later. When he entered, Everett was pleased to see Melissa's eyes looking a lot brighter. He walked over to the bed and said, "You look like you're feeling better, Missy."

"I am, Ev. The food and water helped."

"I'm glad, sweetheart." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "You really scared me."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"That's ok," said Everett who then turned to Mac and said, "We've got about thirty minutes before the meeting. Could you please go check and see if Scott and the others need any help?"

Mac replied, "Yes, Sir," and left the room.

After he left, Ev could no longer keep the emotion off his face. He sat down on the bed and took Missy's hands in his. She asked, "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"I almost lost the two of you today, more than once." A few tears started to trail down his cheek. "I don't think I could have stood it."

She reached out to give him a hug and wipe the tears away. "But you didn't lose us," she said. "We're right here." Missy placed his hand on her stomach and said, "Come on, angel, give Daddy a good kick." She felt a small kick. "Did you feel that, Ev?"

He gave her a warm smile. "Yes, I did. Thank you, Angel."

"Now, I want you to listen to me, sweetheart," said Missy. "I am going to heal from what happened to me today, and I'm going to have this baby in five months. And whether I have her on Earth, this ship, or another planet, it doesn't matter to me as long as we're together. Agreed?"

Everett leaned in to kiss her and then said, "Agreed. You are something else. I can't begin to tell you how much I love you."

"I love you too, Ev," said Missy. "Listen, I have a question for you. You don't mind if I sit here during the meeting, do you?"

"Not at all," he replied. "I know you need the rest from everything that's happened today." The two of them talked about anything and everything for a few more minutes until they heard the door chime. It was Scott, TJ, Greer, and Mac. While they were waiting for Dr. Rush, TJ came over and made sure Melissa was ok having heard about her fainting from Mac. Shortly after that, the door chimed again, and it was Dr. Rush. Everyone took seats around the room, and the colonel asked, "Who wants to go first?"

Scott replied, "I will, Sir. I took a look at the personnel list, and we have a total of 78, well 78 1/2…" He winked at Melissa and continued, "People onboard. I'm thinking we can do it in three trips with the supplies divided equally three ways." He asked the other people who had been with him, "Does that sound about right?"

"Sure does," said TJ. Greer and Mac nodded in agreement with her.

Colonel Young then looked at Dr. Rush and asked the most important question, "So, what have you found out about the shuttle? Can it handle more than one trip?"

"Well," replied Rush, "that is really going to depend on which planet is habitable. The answer is yes, the shuttle can handle more than one trip if it's the first planet, but if it's one of the other two, the answer will be no. There just won't be enough fuel."

"And we won't know about the planets for another ten hours?" said Young.

"No."

"Ok, we need to plan for best and worst cast scenarios then. Best will be everyone goes." The colonel looked over at Scott and asked, "How many people will the shuttle hold if we can just make one trip with the supplies?"

Scott thought for a second and replied, "With all the supplies, the shuttle could hold seventeen people safely."

TJ asked, "How are we going to pick seventeen people, Sir?"

For a moment, everyone in the room was silent. Then Everett said, "I'm not going to put that on any of you. It will be up to me. This is what I want for now. All of you need to get some sleep. I want to meet with everyone on the ship in about nine hours in the Gate Room." He gazed at the officers. "I would appreciate you spreading the word."

Scott, Greer, TJ and Mac nodded in the affirmative and headed out of the room. As Rush was about to leave, he noticed Young staring at Melissa who had fallen asleep on the bed. He walked over to him and said, "You know, I asked Lieutenant Johansen if I had missed anything while I was asleep, and she said no. I think I missed more than what she told me."

Everett turned to Rush and asked, "So, what do you think you missed?"

"You tell me when I miss something," replied Rush. After he saw Young's nod of acknowledgement, he continued, "You and Dr. Mitchell are together; she's expecting; and she was attacked today."

"Right on all three counts." He leaned down and stroked Melissa's hair. "I have a lot of thinking to do."

Rush remarked, "Listen, Colonel, I know you and I have had our differences, but take it from someone, probably one of the few people on this ship, who has been married and a parent. Don't leave her out of whatever you decide to protect her. I know the two of you were on the same team. It will piss her off if you do." He touched Young's shoulder in a gesture of support and then left the room.

After he left, Everett sat in a chair at the edge of the bed and watched Melissa sleep. He knew that what Rush had said made sense, but, at the same time, he knew that he would sacrifice everything he had to make sure Melissa and their baby girl survived. Noticing that Missy was starting to toss restlessly in her sleep, he leaned forward and heard her say, "Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt my baby."

He nudged her and said, "Missy, wake up. You're dreaming." She woke up about a minute later when she sat up with a look of utter terror on her face.

"Everett?" she asked.

"Yeah, baby, it's me. It's ok. You're safe."

Looking around the darkened room, Melissa asked, "Did I fall asleep?"

Ev replied, "Yeah, you did, but it's ok. I'm coming to bed now." He stripped down to his undershirt and boxers and got in the bed with her. Putting his arms around her, he said, "Go back to sleep, baby. I've got you."

"Thanks Ev," said Missy. "I feel safe now." As she drifted off to sleep, Ev made his decision. It would be the hardest thing he had ever done. He spent the rest of the night memorizing every contour of her body and face. About two hours before the ship-wide meeting, he got up and got dressed. After kissing her on the forehead and leaving a note on the night table, he headed out – first stopping at Lieutenant McDonald's quarters and asking him to make sure Melissa ate before the meeting. Young then went to see Dr. Rush who told him it was not looking good for the first planet, but he would know for sure after the meeting. At that point, he knew he had made the right decision and decided to go over to the Observation Deck until the meeting.

Meanwhile, back in their quarters, Melissa woke up feeling stiff, but feeling rested too. She looked around and was puzzled not to see Ev, but then she saw a note on the night table. It said, 'Good morning, sweetheart. I needed to take care of some things before the ship-wide meeting. Mac is coming to get you at 0730 and to make sure you EAT before the meeting. See you there. Much love, Ev'. Smiling fondly at Ev's efforts to take care of her, Melissa looked at her watch and noticed it was already 0700. She went over to her duffle and took some cleaning wipes out of her makeup case. She used one to clean her face and hands, combed her hair, and then got dressed. As she was putting on her boots, the door chimed. It was Mac who said, "Morning Melissa. How are you feeling?"

Missy replied, "Hey Mac. I'm feeling better. I understand we have a breakfast date."

"Yes, and I am to make sure you eat. That's a quote."

"I guess the Mess is our next stop then." They headed out of the room and down towards the Mess. On their way there, Melissa asked, "Mac, was the Colonel ok when you saw him?"

Mac replied, "I think he has a lot on his mind."

"Ok." There was not time to say anything else as they had come up to the room which was the Mess. As they entered, several people stopped what they were doing and stared at them. Melissa said, "Nice to be the focus of attention, I guess."

They heard a greeting from the corner, "Melissa, Mac, over here." It was TJ who was sitting with Scott and Greer. They sat down with the other three and started talking while they waited for their rations to be brought to them. TJ asked, "Melissa, how are you feeling?"

Melissa replied, "Better, stiff, but better. How does my face look?"

"Not as bad. You can probably take that tape off your wrists now."

"Well, that's good." Melissa took the tape off her wrists as their rations were brought to them. Mac and Melissa began eating while the other three continued to eat. About ten minutes later, Scott and Greer got up with Greer saying, "We gotta go. The colonel wants us there a few minutes early."

Melissa looked up and gazed at both of them intently. She asked, "Have you seen the colonel yet today?"

"Nope," said Greer. "He told us that last night. Come on, Scott, we need to go." The two of them got up from the table and headed out.

As they left, Scott asked, "Why did you lie to her?

"Because," replied Greer, "although the colonel didn't tell us what he had decided, I have a feeling that it's going to be something that Dr. Mitchell won't like. And I'm not going to get in the middle when she beats the crap out of him."

"That's probably a good idea," said Scott as they walked down the corridor.

Meanwhile, back in the Mess, Melissa gave TJ and Mac inquiring looks. "Ok, what's going on? Cause I know the guys weren't telling the truth."

TJ said, "I haven't seen the colonel today, and that is the truth."

"And I just saw him when he came to ask me to make sure you got breakfast," said Mac.

"Ok, fine," said Melissa. "Let's finish this so we can get to the meeting." They hastily finished their rations, and while Melissa was cleaning her bowl, TJ whispered to Mac, "You mean you're not going to tell her of the general rumor about the lottery?"

"Nope," replied Mac, "because if he's decided to do that, not everyone will be going, and he's probably making sure she gets picked."

"Naah, the colonel won't fix it," said TJ, "but, if he tries, she will kick his ass."

"Yep, and that's why I'm not getting in the middle." Melissa's return prevented him from saying anymore. The three of them left the Mess and headed toward the Gate Room. When they got there, they saw that most of the crew had gathered and were waiting for things to start.

About five minutes later, Melissa saw Everett coming down the stairs. His eyes searched the crowd, and when he saw Melissa, he warmly smiled at her. Then he addressed the group, "If I could have your attention?" The crowd fell silent as he continued, "You've all heard about our situation. It sucks. I'm going to repeat the facts so that we are clear. In just over a day, this ship will fly into a star. Now, we have no power to change its course. We have no idea how to steer the ship. Even if we did, we are having another bad day."

The crowd nodded in agreement and murmured among themselves. Young continued with his update. "So, here's what we're going to do. We have a working shuttle. We think there are three planets out there that might be habitable. Now, we think, we believe that it's no coincidence that Destiny dropped out of FTL in this solar system, to give us a chance. Once we know for sure that there's a planet out there for us, we are going to have a lottery."

Everyone gasped in shock and surprise while Melissa, who was starting to suspect that Everett had made a decision she wouldn't be pleased with, narrowed her eyes. He said, "We will draw the names of fifteen people."

Brody called out, "The shuttle can hold twice as many.

"Not once it's been loaded up with supplies. Besides, there's only life support for seventeen, max," said Scott.

Camille Wray gazed at the colonel steadily and stated, "You said fifteen."

Young replied, "I will be choosing two of the people myself—two people with the necessary skills to fly the shuttle and survive on the planet."

"Yeah, I bet I can guess who they are," said Sergeant Spencer who glanced over at Melissa. Other members of the crowd followed his gaze as they made noises of agreement with him. Melissa looked back at all of them preparing to defend herself if necessary while Mac prepared himself as well. Then the colonel walked down the remaining steps and limped to the front of the crowd. He stated in a firm voice, "I'll be taking my name out of the lottery. Anyone who wants to join me, keep talking." With that, Spencer and the rest of the crowd became quiet. Young continued, "We're still several hours from knowing if any of them are habitable so I suggest you all go back to your quarters and wait it out. That's all I have for now."

With that, people start to leave the Gate Room. Melissa tries to catch Everett's gaze, but he turned and left almost as if he was trying to avoid her. Mac touched her back and said, "Are you ok?"

"No, I'm not, Mac," said Melissa who shot a glare at the colonel's rapidly disappearing back. "I'm gonna kill him. That's what I'm gonna do. Scott will have to do the drawing because he won't be able to." She made like she was going to punch the wall in frustration; then Mac put his hand in front of the wall so she punched his hand instead. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I didn't think you needed a broken hand on top of everything else," he replied.

"Thanks," said Missy. "Doesn't he know that I will not get on that shuttle without him?"

Mac turned her around to face him. "Melissa, listen, I know you're upset, but keep something in mind. He loves you and your baby. I know if it was me, I would probably be doing the same thing."

The angry look on her face softened a bit as she said, "Mac, I love him too—I've loved him for four years, but he's forgotten something."

"What's that?"

"How stubborn I can be. Come on." Melissa rotated around and started to briskly walk out of the Gate Room. She stopped when she realized Mac wasn't with her. "Are you coming?"

Thinking to himself that Melissa was almost a carbon copy of his sister with her grit and determination, he said, with a bit of resignation in his voice, "I guess I am going to be getting in the middle of this. I'm coming." They headed out of the Gate Room and started walking back towards Missy and Ev's quarters.

When they got there, Melissa was about to go in when she heard voices and decided to wait for a minute. One was the colonel's voice, and the other was Camille Wray's. They were loud enough that they could be heard in the hallway. Camille said, "Hand-picking just two of them is a cop-out and you know it. The responsible thing to do is…"

"Leave now," said Young, "or I'm going to take your name out of the lottery. I may just anyway." Melissa could hear the sound of papers shuffling like he was searching for her name. Then she heard the sound of Camille's voice pleading with him. "Please don't." The next instant Camille came running out of the room. She didn't see Melissa or Mac because she ran in the other direction.

Melissa walked in and said, "That was cruel, Ev. You didn't need to do that."

Ev looked up from his papers in shock. "You heard that?"

"The last part, but that's not why I'm here."

"Melissa, listen."

"No, you listen. You were chicken this morning and didn't stay around to tell me what you had decided so now I get to have my say. First, I am assuming you took my name out of the lottery too." Seeing the guilty look on his face, Missy knew he hadn't. "Everett Young, how could you! What happened to surviving this together? You don't hold the monopoly on what we share!"

"Melissa, listen to me! With all my heart, I want you and our baby to survive. And it's going to happen; you will have a seat on that shuttle.

"Excuse me," said Missy. "How are you going to guarantee a five-to-one shot…unless you're planning to fix it? Dammit, I will NOT get on the shuttle that way! What is wrong with you?"

Staring at her with a look of determination, Ev said, "Yes, you will, Missy, if I have to have you dragged kicking and screaming."

"Everett, you've forgotten something. Before I was your fiancée and before I was your lover, I was on your team. I can be just as stubborn as you are. I will not get on that shuttle without you, and if you try to have me dragged on, you will have a riot because there will be 60 other people who want the slot." Knowing she was about to start crying and not wanting to cry in front of him, she added one last thing, "Ev, there's something else you probably didn't consider—that I might not want to live without you either." Melissa then ran out of the room, not caring where she was going, just knowing she had to get away.

Mac, who had been standing against the wall, said, "Sir, I understand why you want to do it, but this isn't the right way. I'll keep an eye on her, but you really need to think about how you want to handle this between now and the drawing." He then hurried out of the room barely hearing the colonel's quiet thank you. Going down the hall, he could barely keep up with Melissa, but, when she stopped and turned right, he knew where she was going and slowed down so he could catch his breath. Five minutes later he turned onto the Observation Deck and saw where Melissa was sitting down in the corner and shaking with sobs. He sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. They stayed that way for a few minutes until she had gotten it all out. Looking up, she saw his concern for her and said, "I'm ok, Mac. I'm just wondering how I ended up with someone as stubborn as me."

Mac chuckled and said, "It's simple, Melissa, not near as complicated as you're making it. The two of you love each other."

"Maybe, but I don't think he wants to talk to me right now."

"The colonel just needs some encouragement; let me think about it for a few minutes and see what I can come up with." At that moment, Eli, Greer, and several other members of the crew came on the deck with them. Melissa hastily wiped her eyes with a tissue, and she and Mac joined them. Eli was showing a Kino to everyone. Greer asked, "So, how are you gonna get the thing off the ship?"

Eli replied, "With the remote, when the shuttle takes off. We might even get one last look at the Destiny from the outside before it gets out of range. So…" His voice trailed off as Scott and Chloe also joined the group. He then asked, "What are you guys doing here?"

Chloe replied, "We heard about your message in a bottle."

"Started out as a documentary, actually," said Eli.

"Well, we want to be a part of it."

"I figured you'd be busy."

Scott said, "Eli, you realize the odds of anybody finding a Kino out here…"

"Probably nil, I know. Let's do it anyway. Let's do something. Let's leave something of ourselves behind."

Melissa said, "I think it's a great idea, Eli." She gazed at the rest of the group who looked kind of amazed to see one of the older scientists there. "At least they'll know we were here."

The rest of the group was silent, taking it all in. Finally, Greer sighed heavily in agreement with the idea, and everybody else nodded their agreement as well.

Eli asked, "So, who's first?"

While Eli was getting the rest of the group organized to record their kino shots, Mac took Greer and Scott aside and asked, "Hey, you guys gonna be here for a few minutes?"

"Yeah, what's up?" asked Greer.

Motioning towards Melissa, Mac replied, "Well, between the three of us, the colonel was being an ass earlier, and I thought of something to encourage him in the other direction, but I wanted to make sure someone was keeping an eye on her while I took care of it."

Greer nudged Scott, "See I told you." Then he looked over at Mac. "I don't envy you a bit having to witness that, but if we can fix it, it will be better. Go ahead."

"Thank guys." Mac hurried out of the room and started walking toward the shuttle as he guessed that was where Dr. Rush would be. Arriving there a few minutes later, he walked in and sure enough, there was Rush who looked up and asked, "Hello Lieutenant. What can I do for you?"

"Well, Dr. Rush, last night, I had come back to Colonel Young's room for something I forgot, and I heard the advice you had offered him about Dr. Mitchell. I don't know if he would even listen to you, but he's about to do something dumb, and we, I mean me, Scott, and Greer, were wondering if you could encourage him not to be quite so stubborn."

"Didn't take my advice to start with, did he?" said Rush. "Well, I can try again. Dr. Mitchell's got gumption, and she knows her stuff. I would hate for things to end badly for them. I've almost got my analysis of the planets completed. That'll be the perfect time to get his attention. I'll call him when I'm done."

"Thank you, Sir."

"You're welcome." Mac then left the shuttle and headed back for the Observation Deck.

Meanwhile, Melissa was preparing to film her kino entry. Eli told her, "Go ahead and start talking when you're ready, Dr. Mitchell."

She nodded in response, took a deep breath, and started talking, "Hello, I'm Dr. Melissa Mitchell, botanist and physicist with the Icarus Expedition. Eli, you don't need to know my age for this. Anyway, I wanted to say a couple of things. Cameron, I'm sorry for what happened. I should have never married you. I hope you know that I did care for you, but I guess you really can't choose who you love, can you? To my sisters, Patti and Amanda, their families, and my dear friends, I love and miss you greatly. I will also regret not having the chance to meet this baby. And finally, even though he's on this ship, I want to say this cause I don't know if I'll have the courage to say it in person. Everett, you are stubborn and pig-headed, but I love you dearly. I hope we can forgive each other before it's over." She closed her eyes briefly letting an almost overwhelming pain wash over her. "Ok, Eli, I'm done." She left the room where he was filming the kino entries and told the next person they could go in. Walking back to the Observation Deck, she decided to just sit there for a while watching the area of space they were travelling through.

At the same time Melissa was on the Observation Deck, Dr. Rush was sitting in the pilot's seat of the shuttle waiting for Colonel Young to arrive as he had radioed him a short time earlier. Hearing a noise at the back of the shuttle, he turned and saw Young come in who said, "Sorry, you radioed me?"

Rush replied, "Ah, yes. Um, the first planet is too cold—frozen methane. The second is too hot. The third—well, that happens to be behind the star at the moment, too far away to determine habitability."

"When will we know?"

"It doesn't matter. We don't have any choice. We're gonna have to launch the shuttle before we can get close enough. The odds are good, though. Its orbit is in between the other two—the Goldilocks Zone, they call it."

"Not too hot and not too cold."

"Yes, just right."

Thinking he would see if this could be fixed one more time, Young asked, "What if we use the engines from the shuttle to push the Destiny off course?"

Rush, of course, had already thought of that and had actually run the numbers while he was waiting for Young. "That's a good thought, but, um, I'm afraid I've already run the numbers and, without getting into delta-v and thrust-to-weight ratios, then…"

"Not a chance."

"No."

The colonel let out a breath he had been holding and asked, "Well, when do we launch the shuttle?"

Rush replied, "We could wait a few more hours, but the extra time—I don't think it's gonna give us any more information than we already have."

"When the shuttle's loaded then."

Young turned as if he was going to leave, and Rush decided, knowing that he would only have one shot at this, to call him back, "Colonel Young." He turned back with a questioning look. Rush said, "If, by chance, you were thinking of choosing me as one of the two, please don't."

"Why?"

"This ship—coming here—was my destiny. My life's work was to be here, not trying to survive on some rock with a bunch of strangers. In fact, you can take my name off the lottery altogether."

Having a bit more respect for the man, Young said, "Look, Rush, I realize I should have listened to you sooner."

"No, I wasn't myself."

"Still, you were right."

"It really wouldn't have made any difference. Listen, do you mind if I ask you who you are gonna choose?"

"Lieutenants Scott and Johansen."

"I would have thought Scott and Greer, yesterday's heroes."

"I've got my fingers crossed for Greer."

"Well you can easily arrange that."

"You mean fix the lottery?" Young's breath caught as he realized that someone had figured out that he planned to do exactly that.

"Yes."

For the longest time, neither of them said anything. Then Rush asked, "If you're planning to do that, I don't think Dr. Mitchell would want it, and I think it would cheapen what the two of you have had. I understand more than you know. My wife and daughter died in a car accident five years ago. There's not a day that's gone by that I haven't thought about them." He saw a wave of pain pass over the younger man's face. "Have faith that she knows what she wants."

Young said with a note of pain in his voice, "She doesn't want to go, and she got so mad at me when I said she should. Said I didn't have the monopoly on what we have and that I didn't even consider that she wouldn't want to live without me either."

"I think you have your answer then. How soon are you going to do the drawing?"

"It will take an hour to load the shuttle."

"Ok, I'll see you then." The colonel left the shuttle and started walking back towards the Gate Room.

Meanwhile, back on the Observation Deck, Mac was meeting with Scott and Greer. "Listen, we don't know which of us is going to get picked, and I really would like to see Melissa and the colonel make up before the end. What do you guys think?"

Scott said, "Well, I can tell you that TJ and I will probably be the automatic picks so we need to bring a few more people in on this. How about Chloe and Eli?"

"Sounds good." Scott called them over and briefly explained the situation which they were more than happy to help with. A few minutes later, a general message was passed around for everyone to gather in the Gate Room again. Melissa walked down the hall with Mac, Greer, Chloe, and Eli as Scott had gone to the shuttle. With a sense of dread and nervousness, she really hoped that Everett was going to do the right thing.

When they got to the Gate Room, Melissa saw where everyone had gathered. Before Greer went to join the colonel, he gave her an encouraging smile. At the front of the room, Young was holding a case containing many folded sheets of paper. He addressed the crowd, "The names of every person in this room are written down on one of these pieces of paper. Doctor Rush and I have chosen to exclude ourselves. If anyone feels the same way, now would be the time to speak up."

Melissa stepped forward and said, "Colonel Young, I would like for you to exclude me as well."

For a long moment, neither of them spoke though they could each see the pain and devastation in one another's faces. Finally Everett said, "I already have, Dr. Mitchell." Melissa nodded at him in gratitude as she didn't trust herself to speak anymore.

He waited another moment, and when no one else spoke, he continued his address to the rest of the crowd. "If your name is chosen, you are to go directly up these stairs to the shuttle where you will be met by the two people that I have already chosen. Lieutenant Scott has pilot training, and TJ's skills as a medic will be essential on the planet. If your name is not chosen, you are to remain here until I receive word the fifteen are aboard, and the shuttle's rear hatch is secure. Does anyone have anything to say?" After a long silence, Young closed the lid of the case, tilted it a couple of times, and shook it. He put the case down again, opened the lid, and took out a sheet of paper. To the crowd, he said, "Airman Becker." The young man that worked in the Mess looked up in surprise at hearing his name. Nodding at him, the colonel said, "Go," and Becker headed up the stairs.

Young drew more sheets out of the box and read the names. "David Walters, Camille Wray, Lieutenant James." As each name was read, that person walked up the stairs and towards the shuttle. Melissa was still in a fog from earlier and wasn't really conscious of people leaving until she heard the next name. "Lieutenant McDonald." Glancing over at the person who had become like a brother to her over the last few days, she told him, "Go. I'll be ok. Thank you for everything you have done."

Mac gave her a hug and said, "You're welcome." Motioning to the colonel, he said, "Melissa, promise me you'll talk to him before…"

Nodding in acknowledgement of his request, Missy replied, "You need to go." Mac went up the stairs heading for the shuttle. The colonel then read more names out. "Doctor Park, Mr. Brody, Sergeant Riley." As Sergeant Riley left, Eli held up the kino and handed it to him. He took it and went up the stairway. After he left, Young read the final name. "And Doctor Boone." When Dr. Boone reached the top of the steps, Young said, "That's fifteen. We're done here."

After she heard that, Melissa decided to slip out not knowing if she could keep it together, especially if Ev was still upset, and not wanting to break down in front of everyone. As she quietly made her way to the door, she didn't notice Chloe and Eli having a quiet consultation. Eli said, "Alright, It's time for Operation Save the Day. Go ahead and follow her. I'll radio you when he's done, and I'll steer him in the right direction."

Chloe patted the radio that Greer had given her. "You got it." She then headed out of the room following Melissa down the corridor. After she made a couple of turns, Chloe knew where she was going and radioed Eli. "Chloe to Eli."

"Eli here."

"We're headed for the Observation Deck." Chloe could hear a bunch of commotion in the Gate room.

Eli said, "I'm pretty sure we're headed there too. See you in a couple of minutes."

"Ok." She shut the radio off and hurried the rest of the way. When she got there, Chloe saw Dr. Rush at the front staring at the view. He motioned to the far corner where she saw Melissa hugging herself and looking very lost. Chloe walked over there and touched her on the shoulder. "Hey Melissa, are you ok?"

"Hi Chloe, I honestly don't know." Glancing out the window, Missy could see the shuttle in its final preparations for take-off. "I just want things to be ok, you know, before the end, but I don't know how to get there."

A voice sounded from behind them. "I was told you just needed to speak from the heart." It was Everett who said to Chloe, "Chloe, I've got this." She went to join the others at the railing. He then turned to Melissa and said, "Baby, I am so sorry. Will you forgive me?" Looking very nervous, he waited for her reaction.

Relieved beyond all words, Missy nodded her head up and down and said, "Yes, oh, yes, I will, Ev. I'm sorry too." She walked into his outstretched arms and hugged him for all he was worth. The knot of pain that had been in her heart since that morning disappeared into a wave of sweet relief. He kissed her tenderly on the lips and said, "Let's go see the shuttle off." They walked down to join the group at the railing with their arms around each other's waists.

At that moment, Scott's voice came over the radio. "We're releasing the docking clamps." On either side of the shuttle, the clamps retracted and folded down out of the way. The shuttle began to pull away from the airlock, and the kino floated into the gap and drifted out into space. Its engines fired briefly, and it turned at a forty-five degree angle. Eli typed onto his remote control and said, "The kino's sending back pictures."

In the shuttle, Scott grimaced as the sun shined directly into the window. Activating his radio once more, he said. "This is Scott, we're away."

Young said into his radio, "You're looking good, Lieutenant."

"I expect we'll be out of radio range by the time we fire up the main drive. Before we do that, Mac, TJ, and I had a question for Greer, Chloe, or Eli. Was Operation Save the Day a success?"

Grinning at the Colonel and Melissa who had not taken their hands off of one another since walking to the railing, Chloe grabbed a radio and said, "Yes, it was. It was very much a success!"

"Oh, good," said Scott. They could all hear cheering on the other end. He continued, "We'll be thinking of you guys."

Greer said into his radio as well, "You too, brother, you too."

Young chuckled as he spoke into his radio. "I have a feeling something was planned without my knowledge. Melissa and I thank all of you for your support. Matthew, TJ, take good care of those people."

The group watched as the retros above the shuttle fired briefly to stop it from rising further. Then the rear engines ignited, and the shuttle flew away. Eli held up his remote, smiled, and said, "There it is." He showed the image to everyone. The kino had drifted to the rear of the ship and had turned its camera backwards showing the ship receding behind it.

Awestruck, Chloe said, "That's the Destiny."

Smiling, Eli nodded as Rush gazed at the image in amazement. The kino drifted further away revealing the shape of the entire ship just before the sun moved into the frame and its light obliterated everything on the screen. Eli lowered the remote, and there was silence for a moment as everyone considered what they had just seen, then Rush nodded appreciatively and said, "Thank you, Eli. I never thought I'd get the chance to see the ship from the outside."

Tenderly gazing at Melissa, Everett asked, "How would you like to go for a walk, sweetheart?

Missy replied with a gentle smile, "I'd like that very much.

He looked at the rest of the group and said, "Any of you are welcome to join us."

"I think I will, Sir," said Greer.

Rush told them, "I shall be in my quarters for the duration. I have a hundred pages of a truly mediocre book to finish."

Young held out his hand to him and said, "Thank you for what you said earlier." Touched, Rush took it, and they shook hands. Young looked at the others for a moment, and then he, Melissa, and Greer headed out of the room.

A few minutes later they were all walking along a corridor and talking about the event that had led to Greer's confinement at Icarus. The colonel said, "While I don't condone behavior of that kind in any way, shape, or form, I've gotta say, the look on Telford's face when you put him down was priceless! Complete and total shock!

Greer said, "He was surprised, yes, Sir!"

The three of them chuckled. Melissa said, "You know what was even funnier-when he went down right at my feet as I rounded the corner. I had to put my notebook over my face so he wouldn't see me laughing."

"That was funny," said Everett who then said to Greer, "I guess you can even say you got away with it."

"I'm just sorry I disappointed you, Sir."

"You're a good man, Sergeant, I know that. Besides, the bastard had it coming."

"Yes, Sir, he did." The three of them chuckled again. Then Greer said, "Sir, before we break this party up, I just wanted to tell the both of you thank you. I've not seen a lot of genuine relationships in my life, and I can tell the two of you love each other by just the way you look at each other."

Melissa's eyes welled up with tears. "No, thank you Sergeant. You've been like a brother to me for the past few days, and I never had one." She reached out and gave him a hug.

Greer smiled at her and said, "I just wish I was going to have the chance to be an uncle."

Then he turned to the colonel and saluted. Young said, "At ease, Ronald." Greer held the salute for a moment longer and then took the hand that he offered and shook it.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Sacrifice

Author's Notes: Refer to first chapter.

Disclaimer: Refer to first chapter.

After that, Everett and Melissa walked down the corridor towards their quarters holding hands—just content to be with each other. When they arrived a few minutes later, Missy said, "I guess it's time to wait now. I might as well be comfortable while I'm waiting." She went to her duffel and took out her sweatpants and t-shirt and then began unbuttoning her uniform while Ev sat down on the bed. After she finished taking everything off except her bra and panties, she heard a sharp intake of breath. Looking over at Everett, she asked, "What?"

He walked over to her and said, "You haven't taken everything off since yesterday, have you?"

"No, I haven't, why?" He turned her face towards the mottling of bruises on her body from her shoulders down to her belly. "Oh."

Holding his emotions in check as much as he could, he asked her, "Does it hurt, baby?"

"Not much," she replied.

Missy reached for her pants, but Ev, knowing he wanted to make the time they had left together as precious as possible, put his hand over hers. He asked her, "Melissa, do you trust me?"

She gazed up and saw a look of deep, honest intensity in his eyes. "Yes, I do, Ev, always."

Thinking how lucky he was to have this beautiful woman in his life especially after what had happened, he said, "Ok, I want to spend the time we have left making you feel special. If I do something that makes you uncomfortable or hurts you, you tell me, and I'll stop."

"Ok." She watched as he unbuttoned his uniform jacket and took off his shirt and undershirt. He then came and lay down with her on the bed. Starting with her face, Ev began planting kisses on all the places he could see bruises. His kisses trailed down to her shoulders where he reached under her back to loosen and take off her bra. Once he had done that, he kissed around and then took the nipple of each breast into his mouth. Missy moaned with pleasure and said, "Oh Ev, that feels so good."

Everett sat back up to where she could see his face, gave her a gentle kiss on the lips and said with an impish grin, "I'm not done yet, baby." He then continued exploring—kissing up and down her arms, wrists, and hands and kissing each of her hips. When he got to her belly, he could see the greatest concentration of bruises where she had started to show. He said, "Angel, I am so sorry those bad men hurt you and mama." Ev knew Missy had heard him when he felt her stroking the back of his head. Once he had finished kissing her belly, he lifted his head back to her face and kissed her passionately. For a moment, he stopped so he could catch his breath and said, "You doing ok, sweetheart? You don't want me to stop, do you?"

"Are you kidding? Don't you even dare think about stopping, flyboy! In fact, you're gonna think I'm nuts especially after yesterday."

"How so?"

"Well, conventional wisdom says I shouldn't even be interested in sex for a while, but….I want you to make love to me, the whole deal, right now. That is how much I love and trust you."

"Oh, honey, I love you too." She could see the unshed tears in his eyes as they began to kiss passionately once more after shedding the rest of their clothes. It didn't take long for him to become ready to enter her which he did slowly so she could accommodate his size. He started thrusting faster as he noticed her hips bucking to meet his. Faster and faster they built to the mutual release they both had needed since coming to the Destiny. Finally, that release came—first for Everett and then, a minute later, for Melissa. Afterwards, they both lay in each other's arms spent, but content. Missy said, "Wow! That was something else."

"Yeah, Babe, even more so than usual. I wonder why…"

A voice from the door interrupted him. "Because the two of you are empathic." Startled, Missy and Ev looked towards the door and saw a being that looked human, but was bathed in a halo of golden light. When Ev moved as if he were going to protect her, the being said, "You don't have anything to fear from me, Colonel Young."

"How do you know my name?

Melissa nudged Everett and said, "Sweetheart, I think he's an Ancient.

The being gave a small chuckle and said, "Almost, Dr. Mitchell. I am actually an Alteran, the race that preceded the Ancients. My name is David."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, our group of ascended beings does things a little differently than you are used to in the Milky Way Galaxy. We noticed that your group had come aboard the Destiny a few days ago mainly because of the strong Alteran gene that the two of you and your unborn child carry."

"Alteran gene?" asked Melissa.

"Yes, both of you are the offspring of Alteran parents who were thrown out of the Ancient's ascended club and abandoned on Earth about forty-five years ago. It's very complicated. We have kept an eye on you since your natural-born parents were killed and made sure certain things happened that put you on the path of joining the Stargate program."

Everett and Melissa gazed at each other in amazement not knowing whether to believe the Alteran or not. Knowing this was the case, David said, "Why don't I explain my first statement. The two of you are empathic—as many Alterans are. Do you know what that is?"

"I know what the human definition is," said Ev.

"Well, increase that a few degrees and you have the Alteran definition. Think about it. Have you ever been able to sense each other's feelings from a distance; been able to sense thoughts before the other voices them? Have you ever been surprised at how intense they've been?"

Missy said, "I would have to say the answer to all those questions is yes. How about you, Ev?

Ev nodded and squeezed her hand as David continued, "Essentially, what it means is that each of your feelings reflects back at the other—when you're sad, when you're happy, when you're angry, when you love—I would say the intensity of what you feel is double that of a human being."

"Whoa!" exclaimed Missy. "That certainly does explain a lot, especially over the last few days."

"Exactly," replied David, "and that is the main reason it was decided for me to come here. You are not going to die today, and Destiny is not going to crash into the sun."

"What!" exclaimed Everett "I was told there was no way to divert the course of the ship."

"Well, what your Dr. Rush does not know, but he will find out is that Destiny is powered by the stars themselves. Destiny is flying into the sun to replenish its reserves."

"We're not going to die?"

"No, you're not, and I'm saving the best for last as the humans like to say. There is a planet of present-day Alterans in this part of the universe. They know that Destiny has reactivated, and they have sent a ship to meet you which will arrive by the time your child is ready to be born."

"Five months."

"Yes. It will not be easy. You will find enough to sustain you, but not an overabundance. The ship will find you though, and you will be able to send those of your group back to Earth who want to go. You will also have help with Dr. Mitchell's delivery as I know you have been concerned about that."

Ev nodded as he squeezed Missy's hand again. It was almost too much for the two of them to take in, but David's quiet steadiness anchored the both of them and helped them to know he was telling the truth. As Melissa was about to ask another question, a second voice piped up, "Can I come out now?" A figure of a young girl appeared next to David. She looked to be about ten years old with long dark hair and big brown eyes.

David said, "Yes, young lady, you may."

"What's your name?" asked Everett.

With an impish grin that looked familiar, she replied, "My name is Katherine Tamara, but right now, you're calling me your angel."

Missy nudged him with an expression of wonderment on her face, "Ev, that's our daughter."

"That's right, Mama. When it was decided we could come here today, my main job was to make sure I gave you and Daddy hope. I can hardly wait to meet the two of you."

Almost ready to burst from the joy he was feeling, Ev said, "We can't wait to meet you either, Angel."

David spoke again, "It's almost time for us to go. I have a few more pieces of advice. You need to be careful who you tell this too. There are people on Earth who would try and take advantage of the situation if they knew."

Putting an arm around Missy, Ev nodded as David continued, "You will find what you need if you listen to your hearts, and you will both be welcome to stay on Altera if that is your wish." As the figures faded away, Katherine said, "Have hope, Mama. Have hope, Daddy. I'll see you soon."

When they had completely disappeared, Ev turned back to Melissa and said, "Wow! What a bombshell! But you know something; I think I've always known that there was something different about me."

"Yeah, me too. There was something I forgot to ask though. I wonder if Anna was Alteran as well.

"No, she was not." David had reappeared at the foot of the bed. "I'm sorry, I should have told you this first. She was abandoned on your parents' doorstep when she was four. They were discouraged because they had not had children yet, and Everett here was already six. They decided to take her in, and you were born the next year."

"Thank you, David."

"You're welcome." Once more he disappeared, and Ev twisted around to face Missy. He said, "We're going to have to make some decisions about who to trust with this."

She said, "You're right. The only ones I would trust right now would be Greer, Scott, TJ, and Mac, and I would need to think about Chloe and Eli. Oh, Ev, we need to get the shuttle back."

"I'm way ahead of you, Babe," said Ev. "Come on, let's get dressed. He got out of the bed and started putting his uniform back on.

Gazing longingly at her sweatpants and t-shirt, Missy was about to start putting her uniform back on when she felt Ev's arms come around her waist from behind and stroke her belly. He spoke in her ear, "Sweatpants are fine, baby. In fact, I think I might need to let you have mine before this is done and over with."

"Thank you, sweetheart." She put her sweatpants, t-shirt, and boots on and then realized she had another problem when she couldn't bend down far enough to lace her boots. "Umm, Ev, can you help me please?"

Seeing her predicament, Ev smiled at her softly and said, "Sure Missy." While he was lacing them up, the lights in their room came back on. "He had that pegged pretty good. I wonder if Rush has figured it out yet." Finishing with the second boot, he said, "You're good, Babe."

Melissa stood up and said, "Thanks. Let's go find out if he's figured it out." They headed out of the room and started walking down the corridor. Several doors down, Dr. Franklin came out of his room and said, "The lights just came back on in my room. What's going on?"

"Stand by," said Young.

Looking at him bewilderedly, Franklin asked, "Colonel?"

Melissa took pity on him and said, "Dr. Franklin, we don't know anything yet either. That's what we're going to find out."

"Ok, thank you, Dr. Mitchell." He stepped back in his quarters, and Everett and Melissa continued to walk towards the Control Room. Five minutes later, they arrived there and saw where Eli and Dr. Rush were already working. Melissa walked over to stand next to Eli's console while Young said, "There's a rumor spreading that we're still here."

"We are," replied Rush. The lights chose to come on at that moment. "Destiny needed all its power reserves to protect itself and us."

"Uh, guys," said Eli. He activated a holographic screen which showed Destiny's position in relation to the star. "We're in the star."

The colonel said, "That can't be right. You're talking thousands of degrees."

"Well," said Rush, "we've just flown through the corona, which is even hotter, to say nothing of magnetic fields, gravitational stresses. This is what Destiny intended from the moment it entered the star system."

"You're telling me it flew into the sun on purpose."

"Yes."

Giving Missy a quick 'Am I playing this dumb enough?' glance, he asked Rush, "Why?"

Rush answered, "To replenish its reserves."

"You're telling me the ship…"

Rush interrupted, "the ship is powered by the stars themselves. It's solar-powered—quite literally. There is no other explanation."

When the ship jolted momentarily, Eli and Melissa looked down at his screen and he said, "The engines just came back on! We're pulling out of it!"

Everyone heard a beeping from one side of the room, and they gazed at the screen above the door where the countdown timer had started up. Young said, "The shuttle! We've gotta call them back."

Eli replied, "Uh, we haven't accessed communications yet."

Rush began typing on this console as he replied, "I'm working on it."

"Well, you know, if you don't figure it out before we go into FTL…," said Young.

"There's plenty of time."

"We can't strand those people there."

Giving him a pointed glance, Rush said to Young, "Then this would be an excellent time for you to trust me to solve this problem." He spent the next several minutes typing into his console as did Eli who periodically consulted with Melissa on translating some of the words. Finally, they unearthed the program that would let them communicate with the shuttle. Rush pointed to the correct switch and told Young, "This is what you push when you want to talk, and let go when you want to hear them."

"Thank you." The colonel pushed the switch and said, "This is Young, come in."

Breathless with anticipation the four in the Control Room waited to hear an answer and were very gratified to hear Scott's voice. "Uh, this is—this is Scott. Sir, how the hell…?"

"We're just as surprised as you are, Lieutenant. I'll explain later. You need to get your ass back aboard this ship."

The crew of the shuttle looked outside one of the windows and saw Destiny coming close to them. Over the radio, Scott said, "We have a visual of you, Destiny. Plotting an intercept course." When he typed the course into his console, it wouldn't take it. He tried once more, and it still wouldn't take it. "Uh, Colonel, stand by." Scott turned to the crew and said, "Brody, come here."

"What is it?" asked Brody who had walked over to Scott's console.

Scott replied, "I don't know yet. Am I reading this right?"

The screen showed a representation of Destiny passing in front of the shuttle and then disappearing. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," said Brody. "We are so close. You can almost touch it! It's right there!"

Scott tried the command once more, but the console still wouldn't take it. He explained to the crew, "The Destiny is accelerating away from us. We can't match it." He then raised his head so his voice could be heard by the comm. "Colonel, we have a problem here."

"What is it?" asked Young.

"We can see you, but the shuttle's computer cannot come up with an intercept solution. Destiny is accelerating too fast. I'm trying to put something in manually here, but there's no way to cross the "t". Sir, we're gonna fall short."

Dr. Rush asked, "You're on full power, yes?"

"I put the throttle up right away. It's just not gonna be enough."

Eli piped up, "You must have afterburners or something."

Scott replied, "It's not an F-16, Eli. It's a spaceship."

"Is there anything we can do from this end?" asked Young.

TJ asked, "Is there any way to slow the Destiny down?"

"That would do it," said Scott.

Rush shook his head at the colonel who replied, "Negative."

Scott stated, "Uh, we're out of ideas here."

Young looked at Rush, Eli, and Melissa and said, "Come on guys." He saw where Rush had put his hand over his face, thinking hard. "Come on."

Rush dropped his hand with a triumphant expression. "Lieutenant, I want you to turn and head directly towards the planet. We'll send you an exact course in a moment."

Eli and Melissa, both understanding what Rush was wanting to do, began rapidly doing calculations on Eli's calculator.

"No, no-no-no-no," said Scott. "The planet is a rock. We're better taking our chances…"

"Do what I say, Lieutenant," said Rush. We don't have much time.

Confused and not understanding why Rush wanted him to do this, Scott nevertheless turned the shuttle and aimed it directly towards the planet. On the Destiny, Eli and Melissa carried out their calculations as fast they could—quietly consulting every few seconds. While they were doing that Rush took the opportunity to explain what was going on to Young and to those in the shuttle. "In order to reach the star, Destiny used an aero braking maneuver to slow down. I'm suggesting Lieutenant Scott perform a slingshot maneuver around the planet to do exactly the opposite."

Young said, "A gravity boost to speed up."

"Should put Destiny directly in their path," said Rush

Scott remarked, "We're all aboard with that idea, Doctor. Just give me the course and speed. This planet's getting pretty big in the windows here."

Rush replied, "One moment." Both he and Eli kept typing into their consoles while Melissa was using Eli's calculator.

Eli's console beeped, and he said, "I got it." Melissa looked at the info on the screen and nodded approvingly as Rush ran over to look. He asked the two of them, "Are you sure? There's a lot of variables here."

Rolling her eyes, Missy said, "Yes, Rush, I'm sure."

Eli also chimed in, "Math Boy. Send it."

"Ok, Math Boy, and should I say Math Girl too?" He typed into Eli's console and then walked back to his own.

Melissa said with a grin and a wink, "Shut up Rush, and send the course."

Pleased to see her looking more relaxed than she had been earlier, Rush grinned back and said, "Sending the new course now."

"Is this gonna work?" asked Young.

"It's gonna be close," replied Rush.

On the shuttle, Scott said, "Got it," and then said to the crew, "All right, everybody, hang on again." Everyone grabbed hold of whatever was nearby. Scott turned back to the console and activated the controls. The retros fired, and the shuttle tilted and headed into the planet's gravity field. It raced around the planet and finally came out the other side and headed out into space again. Back on Destiny, the group in the Control Room waited anxiously for news. When enough time had passed for the maneuver to be performed, Eli pulled up the holographic screen, and it showed the shuttle's position in relation to the ship. He said, "That's them," and then said, "Why am I watching this on TV?" Hurrying out of the room, Eli headed for the Observation Deck.

Walking closer to the screen, Everett clasped Melissa's hand as they and Rush watched the screen anxiously. As the ship got closer, the Colonel said over the radio to Scott, "You've got us lined up. You're doing fine."

"No, he isn't," said Rush. "We're coming up on them too fast." He then took his radio and said, "Lieutenant, our relative velocity is too great. Unless you can match our speed, you're gonna crash in to the ship."

Scott replied, "Uh, this is all we've got." Several of the crew members stood at the various windows to tell him what direction to steer the shuttle in, but it wasn't going to be enough because of their speed. Finally, Young said, "Fire maneuvering thrusters. That might just make the difference."

Scott reached up and flicked the appropriate switches, and the shuttle's speed in relation to Destiny began to increase slightly. Finally, it lowered down onto Destiny's runway, thumped it, and then ricocheted up a little. At that point, Scott turned off the main engines, but the shuttle continued sliding towards the airlock—bouncing onto the runway and scraping along it. When they came to a complete stop in the airlock, Scott pressed several switches and buttons and said over the radio, "Uh, thrusters off, docking clamps engaged. We're still in one piece!"

From the Control Room, Young exclaimed, "Well done! Well done! We're on our way down!" As he and Melissa headed out of the room, he told Rush, "Nice job!"

Hand in hand, Everett and Melissa walked towards the airlock getting there when the first passengers started to come off. They welcomed each member of the crew back and were excited to see Scott, TJ, and Mac come off at the very end. Mac ran up to Melissa and said, "Hey, Melissa!" and picked her up off the ground as he gave her a hug.

When he put her back down, she greeted him with a warm smile, "Hey Mac!" Noticing that she was much more relaxed and that she and the colonel had been holding hands, he leaned over and whispered, "You look better. I'm so glad."

"Me too, Mac. Me too."

Everett spoke up to attract everyone's attention. "How about we meet in the Mess in about an hour for rations after certain people have an opportunity to take showers? We won't mention who they are."

Scott gave them all a rueful grin and said, "That sounds good, Sir."

The three of them headed back towards their quarters while Missy and Ev walked more slowly behind them. Missy asked, "What are we going to do for an hour?"

Ev replied, "You, my dear, are going to get some food out of your stash. I know you haven't eaten anything since this morning, and I don't care to see you faint again." He hugged her affectionately. "We also need to decide who we're going to tell about what we saw and make arrangements to meet later to discuss it."

"Works for me," said Missy. They walked back down the corridor, and a few minutes later, they were sitting in their quarters. While she was munching on a snack bar, Ev stated, "Ok, I know for sure we can trust Scott, Mac, TJ, and Greer. What are your thoughts, Babe?"

"Well, I know why we don't want this to get back to Earth. There's no telling what the IOA or the NID would do with it."

"Yep, and that's why we don't trust the entire ship, because it would only take one person using the stones to mention it, and it would spread like wildfire."

"Oh, yes, sometimes I think the technicians in the Gate Room have their own gossip parties when there's nothing else to do."

Everett nodded in agreement with her and then said, "The only other people I was thinking of were Eli and Chloe. What do you think of that?"

"They would have to be told how important it was for them to keep quiet. Do you think they can?"

He thought about it for a moment and said, "You know, I think they can, and it's probably not fair to Scott to ask him not to tell Chloe. Also, they were part of the 'get Colonel Young and Dr. Mitchell to talk to each other club' earlier."

Missy chuckled as she replied, "Ev, we have some good friends. I'm happy with that. Two more questions for you. What about Dr. Rush? He, besides Daniel, has done the most study on the Alterans. He could probably help us understand what we saw."

"Let me think about that. He did encourage me to talk to you earlier—told me about his wife and daughter dying in a car accident five years ago. That's probably why he's such a difficult SOB. But I'm still not entirely sure of his agenda, and I'm not willing to risk yours or our angel's lives on it. What's your second question?"

"You do realize that we're going to have to pretend to still be hunting for a way back home even though we know it's going to happen in five months, don't you?"

A grave expression came over Ev's face as he clasped Missy's hands in his. "Yes, that thought had occurred to me, Babe. But, I'm not sure Rush actually wants to return to Earth, and as he would be the one to most likely figure it out, we are probably ok. I should tell you though, I'm not sure I want to return either."

"Why's that, sweetheart?" Because of what would happen to us?"

Ev nodded solemnly as he replied, "For starters, you and I would both be drummed out of the SGC, and I would be drummed out of the Air Force. You not being in the military would just be a technicality. And then, if our status as not being human were to become known, the three of us would be buried at Area 51 forever. I don't want that for you or for our daughter."

"So, you believe everything David said?"

"Yes, I thought about it some more. You know, my parents died when I was 17, and I remember many times walking in on conversations that ended immediately and feeling different at school. I really can't explain it. I know David said we would be welcome on Altera, and I want to keep that option open for us." How do you feel about it?"

Missy reached out and gently touched his face. "Ev, my life is with you and our angel. It doesn't matter to me where we live it."

Moved by her simple faith, Ev said, "Thank you, Missy. I love you."

"I love you too. Come on." She got up out of the chair. "It's been an hour, and I'm still hungry." Ev allowed her to pull him up, and they headed towards the Mess. A few minutes later they were sitting at a table with Eli, Scott, Greer, Mac, TJ, and Chloe eating their rations and talking about the shuttle landing. Melissa said to Scott with a chuckle in her voice, "Lieutenant, I've seen plenty of birds land. That was not the best landing."

"Says who," replied Scott indignantly. "I thought it was pretty good."

"That's what you say," said Young, "but I'm dead serious about it; that was like—that was the worst shuttle docking I've seen in my life!"

Everyone laughed as Scott said, "What are you talking about? I barely even dented it."

TJ said, "We just heard grinding noises the whole way."

"Yeah," said Mac. "It went creeeek, creeeek. I thought the bottom was going to come off." That sent the whole table into uproarious laughter.

Young said to Scott as he pointed to Mac, "Well, from what he just said, there has got to be a giant scrape along the bottom. I'm gonna make you put on a spacesuit and go out there and fix it right now." The colonel then looked over at Greer and remarked, "Sergeant, we're gonna need some of that high temperature spaceship paint for Scott here."

"Yes, sir," said Greer, "I believe I've found some!"

Everyone laughed again and continued to talk and eat. Melissa was happy that she had gotten to the point where she was relaxed and could laugh again. That changed in an instant though when she looked at the door, and two people came in who she hoped she would have never had to have seen again. It was Saunders and Williams. Missy bit her lip and nudged Everett. She said, "Ev, Ev."

Turning to her as he felt what could only be described as a wave of terror, he asked, "What is it, honey?" He followed her gaze to where Saunders and Williams were talking with someone at the door. "Dammit, I forgot about them."

They saw Melissa and walked over to the table. Saunders said, "Well, if it isn't the …."

Greer stood up and said, "You know, Saunders, I would keep my mouth shut. Just because the ship didn't explode doesn't mean something couldn't happen to you instead."

"Hold on, Sergeant," said Young who then looked at Saunders and Williams. He said in a severe voice, "I didn't have the pleasure yesterday. The two of you committed a crime that I have every intention of punishing."

Williams said in a sniveling voice as he motioned to the side of Melissa's face that had been injured, "We didn't commit a crime. That was just a love tap."

Tired of feeling like a victim, Melissa stood up and exclaimed, "That was most certainly NOT a love tap! Both of you ASSAULTED me, and you're going to pay for it!" She sat back down to congratulations from the rest of the group who had known about the attack.

The colonel continued speaking to Saunders and Williams. "You may get your ration, and then you will be escorted back to your quarters." He turned to Greer and asked, "Sergeant, can you take care of that please?"

Greer said, "Yes, Sir." He motioned to two of the other marines, explained the situation and directed Saunders and Williams over to their table.

As he was doing this, Everett had sat back down at the table. He squeezed Missy's hand and said, "Sweetheart, I am so proud of you."

"Thanks, Ev." The group finished their rations, and as they got ready to leave, Ev motioned for the other six to come close where no one else could hear him. "Listen, Melissa and I would like to talk with you all about something, but we want it to be private. If you would, please come to our quarters at 20:00. That's 8:00 for you non-military people."

The military officers nodded in acknowledgement as did Chloe and Eli. Looking confused, Eli said, "Are you sure you want me to be there?"

"Yes, Eli," said Young, "And don't tell anyone else. Can you do that?"

Scott asked with a small chuckle, "Yeah, Eli, you do know what 'private' means don't you?"

Eli nodded indignantly at Scott and said, "Yes, I know what private means. He turned back to the colonel and said, "I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you. See you guys in a while." The group headed out of the mess and went in different directions. Everett and Melissa checked in with the Control Room. Dr. Rush was working there and told them that the FTL drive seemed to be working smoothly and that the ship's power reserves were at an acceptable level. When Missy gave Ev an inquisitive look, he shook his head slightly, and she knew that he meant he had decided not to tell Rush what they had seen for the moment. Young asked Rush to check in on the radio if anything happened, but, said that otherwise, he would see him in the morning.

Melissa and Everett continued their walk around the parts of the ship that had been accessed arriving back at their quarters a few minutes later. She sat down with a sigh of relief and said, "Time to take the boots off."

Ev, who had taken the seat next to her, took her legs and put them in his lap. He said, "You might need some help with the knots, Babe."

After he had unlaced each boot and taken it off, he started massaging her feet. Missy closed her eyes and said, "Ev, that feels wonderful. You have magic hands." She enjoyed the sensations for a few moments and then said, "Hey, I was wondering something."

Moving his hands from her feet to her calves, he asked her, "What were you wondering, Missy?"

"Well," she replied with a hopeful expression, "I was wondering if I could take a shower before everyone gets here."

"I knew there was something I forgot to tell you! Before we moved in here, I was playing with the buttons on that panel." He pointed to a panel on the nightstand. "Watch this." He leaned over and pressed the blue button which opened up a panel on the far wall. Missy could see it open to a full-size bathing compartment—shower included. "Oh, oh, oh!" she exclaimed, "It's a private shower!" She ran over to take a look.

Glad that he had found something to make her happy, Ev said, "Yep, I figure these must have been the quarters for somebody important."

Melissa turned back towards him with a big grin and said, "Everett, you are wonderful! I knew there was a reason I kept you around." She put her arms around him and gave him a kiss.

He tightened his arms around her waist as he deepened the kiss. Smiling, he then said, "Baby, I'll have to find one of these for you more often. Why don't you go ahead and get in? I'll bring your toiletry bag to you."

"Sure, sweetheart. Thanks." She took off her clothes and then got in. It took a minute or two to figure out the controls, but once she did, she was luxuriating in the first shower she had taken in almost a week. Missy took about ten minutes to just stand under the heated mist and then she used the soap that was in the bag Ev had left for her to scrub herself down. Finishing up a few minutes later, she got out, toweled off, and got dressed. When she walked out to the main area brushing her hair, Ev looked up from his paperwork with a smile and asked, "How was it, Missy? Did you enjoy it?"

"Oh, yes!" she replied. "I enjoyed it very much! You should try it after everyone leaves."

"I'll plan to," said Everett. He looked at his watch and continued, "Everyone should be here shortly." A few minutes later, the door chimed and TJ, Mac, Scott, and Chloe walked in. The colonel noticed that they were missing two people and asked, "Where are Greer and Eli?"

"Well, Sir," said Scott, "Eli was having trouble getting away from Dr. Rush without telling him where or why he was going so Greer has gone to assist him."

At that moment, the door chimed again, and Greer and Eli walked in, the latter's ear being held by the former. "Ouch, you can let go now. He can't see us anymore."

"What in the world are you doing?" asked Melissa.

Greer looked at Young and said, "Sir, Dr. Rush thinks Eli has been spying on the ladies with the kinos, and you are thinking of an appropriate punishment."

Everyone in the room started laughing as Young chuckled and said, "Sergeant, I will have to give you points for creativity."

"But I didn't do it," said Eli with an indignant expression.

TJ took pity on him. "Yes, we, in this room, know that, Eli, but I think the colonel wants to leave Dr. Rush out of this for now."

Young said, "You're right, TJ. Eli, I'm not going to really punish you. We just have to make it look good."

"Ok," replied Eli. "I've always wanted to be an actor. Count me in."

"You're a good sport, Eli," said Greer. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No, don't worry about it."

"Alright," said Young, "let's get this started." Everyone found a place to sit either on a piece of furniture or on the bed and waited for him to speak again. "I know all of you who are military have had SGC training, and I think Chloe might have seen something about this in her father's files." He thought for a second and then continued, "Ok, I guess the best way to start this would be to ask any of you to tell me what you know about the Ancients or the Alterans."

Mac said, "I know this one. The Ancients were the builders of the gate system and of Atlantis and they lived hundreds of thousands of years ago. Most of them either ascended or were killed by the Wraith with a very few integrating into Earth society once Atlantis had gone back to the Pegasus galaxy."

"The man gets a gold star," said Young. "Did he miss anything?" The others in the room shook their heads. Turning to Eli, he asked, "Have we lost you yet?"

"Nope, that was in the video I watched when I was coming to Icarus on the Hammond."

"Alright, here's the next question. How about the Alterans?"

Eli replied, "I know this one. The Alterans were the forerunners of the Ancients. They were responsible for building this ship and others like it, we think. But they all ascended before they could come here."

"Ok, does anyone know about any appearances that ascended beings have made to people from Earth since the Stargate program has been in existence?"

"Yes," replied TJ, "mainly to members of SG-1 and of the Atlantis Expedition."

"Now, I have something to tell you that no one else knows except for Melissa here." Young took a deep breath as he gazed at the other six people in the room. He looked at Missy who gave him an encouraging smile and then continued, "The two of us actually saw an ascended being earlier this afternoon."

"What!" said Scott and Mac.?

"Where?" said Greer.

The other three gave similar expressions of shock, and there was a bit of commotion for a couple of minutes. Melissa then said, "Ok, ok, guys, let him explain, and I can add things if you have questions."

"Thanks Missy." He continued with his explanation. "It was here in this room. He was an Alteran, and he said they had noticed our group because of the presence of two people who had a strong Alteran gene." Everett went silent for a moment so the group could figure it out. It didn't take long for TJ to make the connection. She said, "Ok, I understand something now."

Young said, "What do you mean, TJ?"

"Well, as you know, all the medical records of the people on Icarus base were on computer disk. It was one of the things I grabbed when we evacuated. I was looking at Melissa's records yesterday, and I noticed something odd with the blood work-up that Dr. Sims had done to confirm her pregnancy. It must have been the last thing he entered before the attack. Anyway, the gene sequencing on her blood type was all wrong. I thought he had just made a mistake, but…" Her eyes widened as she continued, "You're talking about you and her, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am, TJ." He looked over at Melissa and stated, "Well, Missy, I guess we have actual physical proof now." Glancing back over at the medic, he told her, "If you were to run a blood work-up on me now, you would find the same thing."

"I agree with you," she replied. "The other thing that I've been trying to puzzle out is gestational size and movement. For seventeen weeks, neither should be as evident as they are."

Melissa asked, "Is that going to be a problem, TJ?"

"I don't think so. It must be common with Alterans."

Everett gazed at the rest of the group who were still looking stunned and saw where Chloe had raised her hand. "Can I ask a question?"

"Sure, Chloe. Go ahead."

"Were you raised on Earth and did you know each other as children?"

Missy answered that one. "Yes, we were raised on Earth. I only remember meeting him at the SGC though, but he is seven years older than me." She turned to Ev who looked lost in thought. "Does that sound about right?"

"Actually, I think I remember meeting you when we were children, Missy. I was 10, and it was Thanksgiving vacation. We were going to visit friends of my parents, and I had packed my airplane model. When we got there, I was introduced to their two daughters. The older one was eight, and she could have cared less. She was in an 'I hate boys' stage just like I was in an 'I hate girls' stage. But then her little sister came out from behind their mother—must have been about three or four with long dark hair in a braid and the most enchanting set of blue eyes. It was you, Missy!" He grinned as he continued, "She mangled my name to death, but that didn't bother me. Well, her sister didn't like losing the attention and yanked her braid which Missy didn't care for a bit. That got Anna sent to her room real quick."

Melissa said, "Ev, I remember that—clear as a bell. After dinner, we spent the whole afternoon putting together his model. Then he read me a story before bedtime, and I had to read to him too. I was an early reader." She snuggled up into the crook of his arm and said, "I can't believe I remembered that."

TJ smiled and asked Young, "Let me guess, Sir, do you still find her eyes enchanting?"

Everett smiled at Melissa fondly and said, "Yes, I do." Looking at the rest of the group, he said, "Sorry, we got off track. The most important thing that the ascended being told us was there is a planet of present-day Alterans in this part of the universe. They know that Destiny has re-activated, and they have sent a ship to meet us. It will take them almost five months to get to us, but when they do, they will be able to send people back to Earth."

Chloe piped up, "Do you mean we are actually going to get back to Earth in our lifetimes? We need to share this with everyone…" Her voice trailed off as she saw Greer, Scott, and Mac shaking their heads. "Why not?"

"Well," said Mac, "first, Colonel, you need to know I believe you, but there will be others that won't—either they will have problems with you seeing the ascended being, what you were told, or the fact that you're not human." He gazed around the room. "There are only eight of us against the other seventy people on the ship, and then if it gets back to Earth, there's no telling what kind of trouble the IOA or NID could cause. Coupled with the fact that Melissa has already been attacked twice, I'm thinking that making this general knowledge would be a recipe for disaster."

Greer said, "That pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter," as Scott nodded in agreement with him.

"You've pretty much echoed my thoughts on the matter as well," stated Everett. "We decided to trust you with this because you have all been a tremendous support to us for the last few days. The next few months will not be easy, but we will have opportunities to explore that no other people from Earth have had, and I know we can do this if we stick together. He put his hand on top of Melissa's and asked, "So, what do we say, are we together?"

Mac was the first one to put his hand on top of theirs. He was then followed by Scott, Greer, TJ, Chloe, and Eli, and the whole group said, "Together!" As the other six were leaving, Melissa's heart soared knowing that they had begun the bonds of a family.


End file.
